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"Environmental groups in Northwest sue over effect Navy’s sonar use has on marine life
SEATTLE - Conservationists and Native American tribes are suing over the Navy’s expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts, saying the noise can harass and kill whales and other marine life.
In a lawsuit being filed yesterday by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and other groups against the National Marine Fisheries Service say the service was wrong to approve the Navy’s plan for the training.
They said the regulators should have considered the effects repeated sonar use can have on those species over many years and also required certain restrictions on where the Navy could conduct sonar and other loud activities to protect orcas, humpbacks, and other whales, as well as seals, sea lions, and dolphins.
Instead, the Navy is required to look around and see if sea mammals are present before they conduct the training.
Kristen Boyles, a Seattle attorney with Earthjustice, said it the fisheries service job to balance the needs of the Navy with measures to protect marine life.
“Nobody’s saying they shouldn’t train,’’ she said. “But it can’t be possible that it’s no-holds-barred, that there’s no place where this can’t happen.’’
In 2010, the fisheries service approved the Navy’s five-year plan for operations in the Northwest Training Range Complex, an area roughly the size of California, about 126,000 nautical square miles, that stretches from the waters off Mendocino County in California to the Canadian border. The Navy has conducted exercises in the training range for 60 years, but in recent years proposed increased weapons testing and submarine training.
The groups want the permit granted to the Navy to be invalidated. They are asking the court to order the fisheries service to study the long-term effects of sonar on marine mammals, in accordance with the Endangered Species Act and other laws.
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"‘Barefoot Bandit' gets 61/2 years in prison
SEATTLE A federal judge on Friday sentenced “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore, 20, to 6 1/2 years in prison for his infamous two-year international crime spree of break-ins and boat and plane thefts that ended in 2010.
Harris-Moore hopscotched his way across the United States, authorities said. He flew a plane stolen in northwestern Washington to the San Juan Islands, stole a pistol in British Columbia and took a plane from Idaho to Washington state, stole a boat in southwestern Washington to go to Oregon, and took a plane in Indiana and flew to the Bahamas, where was arrested.
He earned his nickname because he committed several of the crimes without wearing shoes, and he attracted fans across the nation for his ability to evade police....
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Also see: Barefoot Bandit Has Smelly Feet
"Town to trace gunshots in bid to catch gangs; Violence alarms rural Washington state community" by Shannon Dininny | Associated Press, January 29, 2012
QUINCY, Wash. - Nearly two dozen slayings last year were believed to be related to gang activity east of the Cascade Range, which divides the bustling metropolitan regions in western Washington and Oregon from largely agriculture-driven cities and towns, yet another reminder of the gang violence invading farm towns tucked amid Northwest orchards and fields.
The violence in rural America largely attributed to Hispanic gangs is not new, said Quincy Police Chief Richard Ackerman. But law enforcement officials are more aware of the vexing problem and are working harder to address it with schools and parents, who work long hours and often fail to recognize the danger of these new “friends,’’ he said....
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Also see: Rewards, big risks on Rainier
Globe's Gay Northwest
I dunno, readers; I'm just not in the mood now.
