Injunction Bans High-Powered Sonar Off Coast

Federal Judge Florence-Marie Cooper issued a preliminary injunction banning the U.S. Navy from using high-powered sonar in training exercises off the Channel Islands and California coast on grounds that sound waves can harm migrating whales. Though the Navy maintains that such training is essential for combat against quiet-running submarines, Cooper countered that sonar was permissible for actual naval operations and that the sound waves can scare deep-diving whales into suddenly surfacing, thus causing decompression sickness.