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Remedies Keyed to Tabb, 8th
Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Citation:
555 U.S. 7 (2008)Facts
The United States Navy conducts integrated training exercises for strike groups off the Southern California coast, which is the only west coast area close to necessary land, air, and sea bases. These exercises include antisubmarine warfare training using mid-frequency active sonar, which the Navy considers mission-critical for detecting modern diesel-electric submarines that pose significant threats. The Navy has conducted such training for forty years without documented sonar-related injury to marine mammals in the area. The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups filed suit claiming the Navy’s training violated NEPA by proceeding without completing an environmental impact statement. The Navy had prepared an environmental assessment predicting 564 Level A harassments and 170,000 Level B harassments of marine mammals. The District Court imposed preliminary injunction with six mitigation measures; Navy challenged two: a 2,200-yard shutdown zone and power-down requirements during surface ducting conditions. The Navy obtained alternative arrangements from the Council on Environmental Quality, but lower courts rejected this as insufficient justification for avoiding NEPA compliance.
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