Judges overturn Bush sonar waiver

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
LOS ANGELES, HONOLULU–U.S. President George W. Bush on
January 15, 2008 exempted the U.S. Navy from a preliminary
injunction creating a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar off Southern
California, meant to protect marine mammals, but the Navy is not
“exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy
Act,” U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled on February 4
in Los Angeles.
Three days later, on February 7, U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth
Laporte of San Francisco found that the Navy failed to take adequate
precautions to protect marine mammals before using low-frequency
sonar in submarine detection exercises. Laporte directed the Navy to
establish sonar-free zones around eight locations worldwide that
attract sound-sensitive species.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
then ruled on February 29 in Los Angeles that the Navy must observe
Cooper’s February 4 ruling.