Marine mammals will be casualty of Navy exercises

In November 2009 the Navy sent NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service an application and request for a Letter of Authorization and Permit to do Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Training Exercises using mid-frequency active sonar effective December 2010 through December 2015. The Navy is currently awaiting approval from NOAA. The Navy’s online application request contains some additional information that was omitted in its December 2009 Gulf of Alaska Draft EIS/OEIS which would have been beneficial for the public to know before the EIS’S Jan. 25 public comment deadline.

The Navy’s application said it wants to use the GOA to access marine mammals’ responses to sonar (physiology, behavior, physics and life function). Navy activity will include the use of torpedoes — “SINKEX” (explosions in or on the water) and bombing/gunnery exercises. The Navy said the potential impacts to marine mammals from explosives include damage to hearing, internal organs or death and that whales and other marine life may not be able to leave the training area fast enough to escape injury or death.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Jan. 25, 2010, letter to the Navy found the GOA DEIS/OEIS to be inadequate and assigned the document a rating of “EC-2” (Environmental Concerns — Insufficient Information). Some of the EPA’S concerns are some of the potential impacts from Navy activities were not disclosed, contamination from heavy metals, lead ballast (can leach into the water over time), sonobuoys ( contain polyvinyl chloride, plastics, batteries, copper wire), leaching of hazardous bomb materials, cyanide from torpedoes, ammonium perchlorate, PCB items and marine debris from sinking exercises (SINKEX).

Other hazardous materials the Navy will use in the GOA is white phosphorus which is poison to fish and waterfowl, even in low concentrations; Chaff — aluminum/Fiberglas particles are potential health risks if inhaled or released into water supplies. Chaff can stay in the air for up to 10 hours. The Navy did not do an “airspace” analysis for its GOA DEIS to identify potential risks to the public from chaff, air-released chemicals which may end up on land, or electromagnetic or mid-frequency transmissions. Only a subsurface evaluation was done for training exercises and even that was faulty.

Current lawsuits are pending against the Navy in Puerto Rico. The Navy used Vieques Island for bombing/training exercises for 40 years or longer. Residents are claiming their many illnesses which include a high rate of cancer and deaths from cancer are caused from all the hazardous chemicals that were used by the Navy. Scientists have proven chemicals are being released into the waters around Vieques from left-over bombing and sinking exercises.

If Alaskans do not speak up now against the Navy’s proposed activities, the Gulf of Alaska will become another Vieques. We need to think about how much contamination will take place in five years.

When the five years are up, all the Navy has to do is apply for another permit if NOAA gives it one this year. Kodiak Island is the closest land mass to the Navy’s GOA training area and has the potential to be affected from Navy/Army/Air Force training exercises in the future. People who have concerns should make them known to NOAA/NMFS before the March 5 public comment deadline, no matter how short their comments, as time is running out. The Navy’s application to NOAA can be read online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm and comments sent to PR1.0648-XU14@noaa.gov

For further information contact Jolie Harrison, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2289, ext. 166.