To stop U.S. Navy planned war games for
weapons testing off our coasts,
deliberately allowing the extermination of 11.7 million mammals over the course of 5 years,
a program initially permitted
under Bush and continued under Obama,
We ask, how could this have been proposed, let alone reached this level and about to happen, where the public comment period is coming to an end Nov. 30,10' , without allowing input on the most recent and worst of weaponry to be tested. All this in the hands of government officials who simply find it "normal" to use terms like "mitigations" ( more mild, softening, to sooth) as if to alleviate unimaginable losses, the word "take" rather than "kill" to rationalize the massive extent of these exterminations of species life.
War exercises along 122,400 nautical miles of air, surface, and subsurface space in Northern California, Oregon, and Western Washington, Idaho, called the the Northwest Training Research Complex (NWTRC) . These war games include "a total of 7,588 sorties...[of] fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ("drones"), and naval vessels conducting exercises for 6,940 hours". . . for each of the next five years.
This means the worst of consequences to marine mammals. fish and birds, in the very midst of the most precious of their national marine sanctuaries, marine reserves, biologically sensitive marine habitats...no longer to be protected by any government agency at this time including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This has got to sound alarmist, but it's simply the reality of what these weapons testings mean.
(see other sources at bottom)
This, only the latest update on this massive issue of Naval testings, suppressed by this governments refusal to initially broadcast such information where it would be most noticed, first announcing in the smallest communities they could find in northern California, Oregon, and Washington...avoiding the big cities.
The Agricultural Defense Coalition of Mendocino was among the first to discover, read the volumes of the report and decipher the extraordinary impact of what the Navy planned. Activists began reaching out to larger newspapers, TV stations to have it broadcasted, but were turned down, for months... thus forced to continue on the phone and begin travelling to surrounding population centers and walking it through, knocking on doors of environmental groups, bringing it to the attention of Boards of Supervisors and others involved in government... anyone they felt might be able to understand the scope of this and help stop it!
(NRDC) National Resources Defense Council, finally took it on, but their legal suit covered only a portion of sonar effects. That suit was settled and NRDC was sidelined and legally bound not to take on this larger case of weaponry being used. Thus their legal work is not of any use in this larger picture of ocean weapons testing, beyond sonar, while their presence in the public eye has led many people to feel all this has been covered.
Activists are still attempting to inspire further legal work and build an extensive coalition of those who hear this message. This has included reaching out further to native tribes, environmental groups and caring peoples everywhere who acknowledge this madness and step up!
We're not simply asking for delay,
but an abrupt stop to this madness.
In the state of Washington, the Navy talked with Indian tribes and it became obvious the tribes had been deceived by the concessions they had made for allowing the tests to proceed, only lately becoming aware of the greater consequences of all this.
A look at governments way of speaking:
In one breath they say; The Navy requests authorization to "take" (kill) individuals of 32 species of marine mammals....and when confronted with this we hear them reply: "nothing of consequences is happening . . .and how . . . people have "misperceptions", . . stating how their safety measures "will reduce the number of animals affected". Still not in the loop, is the impact of their newest arsenal of weapons of 'shock and awe' ... and how the Navy acknowledges some testing is highly classified therefore the tests will not be shared with the public, at all. We always face the curtain drawn by "national security" of anything deemed "highly classified".
We're told sonar will not be used if marine mammals are spotted near training. But a good proportion of the public, including a great many children in school, already know the least of sonar effects are immediately felt by these great mammals even hundreds of mile away. The Navy plans to test sonar weapons with such extreme intensity as "to deafen whales, but..."their hearing eventually is (expected) to return" we're told.
Volumes of public rage over these plans seemed to have been heard back in 09,' and Navy plans, we were told, would be re-evaluated, yet the present plans suggest nothing whatsoever has changed, assuring no protection, nor even making mention of their newest most devastating weapons to be tested, mostly re-tested . All this brought into the plans only recently and never part of what should have been open to public comment!
This is not all. A whole other dimension of this is the inclusion of air bombardments in the summary of what will happen, with testings going on across several states,. . . overhead and targeting parts of Idaho .
According to Navy Public Relations Officer Sheila Murray the United States Navy is already conducting warfare testing programs throughout the United States.
Finally, the EIS Socioeconomics segment concludes, "the Proposed Action would result in no significant impacts. Therefore, no mitigation measures are required."
That's it! And that's why this message is in our hands now
We are not being asked, but simply led through formal procedures,
then told what power will do.
A final ROD (Rule of Decision) was issued on October 25, 2010, to proceed forward despite thousands of filings with them against taking this action. No National Marine Sanctuaries, biological sensitive areas, marine habitats, fish, breeding and feeding habitats, birds or human health are to be preserved or protected at this time within this area from sonar use, toxic chemicals, bomb blasts, and other warfare testing.
The Navy Warfare Testing Program will... "utilize mid-to high frequency active sonar sources and explosive detonations... during Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW), Mine Avoidance Training, Extended Echo Ranging and Improved Extended Echo Ranging (EER/IEER) events, Missile Exercises, Gunnery Exercises, Bombing Exercises, Sinking Exercises, and Mine Warfare TrainingŠ"
The list of toxic chemicals is a long one as noted in the Navy E.I.S. Depleted uranium, red and white phosphorus, and a whole host of chemicals known to be toxic not only to man, but to marine life, are being served up on the "Navy Warfare Chemical Menu" that will contaminate our air, water, and soil."
Fish, habitat, mammal life, human health, toxic chemical usage and dumping, bomb blasts, airborn explosions and overall use of our atmosphere as a physics laboratory for conducting experiments for prosecution of war are all without consideration of the environmental consequences of their actions....and all omitted as part of NOAA (NMFS), items of investigation at this time.
The EIS Socioeconomics segment concludes, "the Proposed Action would result in no significant impacts. Therefore, no mitigation measures are required."
(P.E.E.R.) Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group watch dogging this governments ongoing levels of destruction to ocean life, taking the Navy to court over years of dumping wastes in our oceans, including toxic materials and expended weapons, rather than keeping it all until reaching land and safer deposit.
With dead zones growing in most seas, the effects of plastics and what all the oil drilling has and will continue to do, it begs the question why this nation has not turned its massive power
to restoring the life of our great oceans?
We must all work together to stop this madness
So important: To be making calls directly to Obama
To overturn these plans/be holding Congressional hearings in order to protect Marine Life!
The Whitehouse
* Switchboard: 202-456-1414
* Fax: 202-456-2461
or e-mail - Internet - Whitehouse
Congress toll free # 1-866-220-0444
Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Department documentation on this:
Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Undersecretary
Oceans & Atmospheric U.S. Dep. of Commerce
Who among us, raised to support species life, are not caretakers?
Most Americans raised to respect and embrace the lives of animals will respond to even a single animals life in jeopardy before us. What have we become that we must plead with officials who somehow have the right to override and ignore us, signing off to decimate whole areas of planet life?
How can such treachery ever be acceptable and
What must we do to bring this to a stop?
If our letters and calls to explain such absurd and deadly results
are further ignored, what is our next step?
Asking everyone please to quickly pass this on to others. . .
Communities For Justice and Peace, Humboldt.Co. Ca.
sending out reports and research studies, exposing media bias and
holding government accountable
442-8733
+++++++++++
Other Sources:
1) NWTRC EIS - Hazardous Materials. Table 3.3-1: Number of Activities or Training Items Expended Annually - All Alternatives. Footnote 2, page 3.3-6.
2) NWTRC EIS - Hazardous Materials. Table 3.3-6: Selected Hazardous Materials Discharge Restrictions for Navy Vessels. Page 3.3-17.
3) NWTRC EIS - Socioeconomics. Page 3.14-7.
Susan Galleymore is author of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror, host of Stanford University's Raising Sand Radio, and a former "military mom" and GI Rights Counselor. She was born in apartheid South Africa, lived in Israel from 1975 to 1977, and visited again in 2005. Contact her at media@mothersspeakaboutwarandterror.org.
