Supreme Court Agrees to Review Navy Sonar Case

Now this is interesting.  It just came out that the Supreme Court has agreed to review a California Appellate Court ruling against the U.S. Navy regarding the use of mid-range active sonar in California coastal areas. 

For us, this is quite fascinating because this is a story which plays a significant role in our film story for Way of the Dolphin.  First of all – here’s the AP story on the Supreme court decision. And then afterward, some comments from me: 

By DINA CAPPIELLO – 8 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a dispute over the Navy’s use of sonar off the Southern California coast and its potential harm to dolphins and whales.

Acting at the Bush administration’s urging, the court agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling that limits the use of sonar in naval training exercises.

Sonar, which the Navy uses primarily to locate enemy submarines at sea, can interfere with marine mammals’ ability to navigate and communicate. There is some evidence that the technology has caused whales to strand on shore.

The administration says the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco jeopardizes the Navy’s ability to train sailors and Marines for service in wartime.

The government also says national security interests can trump those of marine mammals, and that its use of mid-frequency sonar in training exercises hasn’t caused any documented harm to dolphins or beaked whales.

The Navy applauded the high court’s intervention.

“The Navy’s position has been the same since the first court case. This is an issue that is essential to national security and we welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case,” said Admiral Larry Rice, the director of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Environmental Readiness Division.

Rice said the restrictions placed on the Navy in earlier court rulings, if not overturned, could cripple training exercises.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, who along with four other advocacy groups sued the Navy over the issue, contends there are ways to use sonar and to protect wildlife.

“It’s clear … that the Navy can reduce the risk of this harm by commonsense safeguards without compromising our military readiness,” Joel Reynolds, director of NRDC’s Marine Mammal program, said in a statement.

Although the science is inconclusive, there is strong evidence that sonar affects marine mammals. The Navy’s own environmental assessment of the use of sonar in 14 training exercises off the California coast found it could disturb or harm an estimated 170,000 marine mammals, including temporary loss of hearing in at least 8,000 whales.

Some environmentalists said the Supreme Court’s hearing of the case will finally settle what takes precedence — national security or environmental protection.

“This will decide whether or not the Navy is fulfilling its security goals in a way that doesn’t leave massive collateral damage,” said William Rossiter, president of Cetacean Society International, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Lower courts concluded there would be near certain harm to marine life in Southern California if the Navy proceeded with sonar exercises as planned.

An injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles early this year created a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and ordered the Navy to shut off all sonar use within 2,200 yards of a marine mammal. That prompted President Bush to step in and sign a waiver exempting the Navy from a section of the Coastal Zone Management Act so training could continue as the government appealed the decision.

But the 9th Circuit sided with the lower court and said the Navy must abide by the injunction. However, while the litigation was under way the appeals court gave the Navy leeway to lessen the restrictions if it determined it was in a critical maneuver point, so that sonar shutdown would begin at 1,000 meters (about 1,093 yards) and full sonar shutdown would come at 200 meters (about 219 yards). Those are the restrictions the Navy is currently operating under.

Arguments will take place in the next court term, beginning in October.

COMMENTS:  It’s important to understand that one of the reasons the California Court decision happened the way it did, is because a big piece of it is simply that the court felt the Navy should use use reasonable precautions to in effect “clear the range” before releasing sound bombs into the water that can kill marine mammals.  One of the things that really struck me about this issue is that on the one hand, you can easily make the case the national security trumps the welfare of a few marine mammals — acceptable collateral damage, right?  But on the other hand, if what is required is simple common sense precautions, why would the Navy not be willing to exercise the same care in “clearing the range” of vulnerable marine mammals.  I think it’s important to understand that in the movie we don’t demonize the Navy … rather we present the two competing arguments and frankly it’s not an easy one to figure out.  That complexity is evident in the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to review the issue — it would never have gotten elevated to that level of consideration if it were not an interesting and compelling issue with meaningful arguments on both sides.

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How to Make a Conch Salad

If you ever come out this way, you’ll learn that conch is what has to be regarded as the national food. Over at West End, which seems to be conch central, there are mountains of conch shells along the seafront. Here’s a picture I took over there.

They prepare conch enough ways to make Bubba Gump happy (remember he knew 87 ways to cook shrimp) — grilled conch, cracked conch, conch fritters, conch chowder to name a few (I’m forgetting some) — but the most beloved way to eat it is “conch salad”, which is kind of a cousin of ceviche. “Conch Salad Stands” are in most of the tourist areas and I have to tell you — tourists an Bahamians love it.

Here is a pic of the conch salad stand we’re going to use in the movie … it’s in the heart of Port Lucaya Marketplace…..

And here’s a little clip I shot with a digital still camera (using the movie function, but it’s not the greatest quality) of the guy who owns this stand making up a batch of conch salads for some hungry tourists.

HOW TO MAKE A CONCH SALAD — VIDEO CLIP

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Ubuntu….Lakers and Celts

Well, it’s the final three minutes of Lakers/Celtics game six and it’s over. Rivers just took out Allen, Pierce, and Garnett….and they’re talking about the unselfishness of these three…how they sacrificed their individual goals and subjugated it for the team. 25 All star appearances among the three of them, but no championship. Now they have it.

Rivers came up with using “Ubuntu” as their rallying cry. I find the “ubuntu” concept intriguing and meaningful — “we are therefore I am”….It’s an African concept – Nelson Mandela speaks eloquently about it. It’s really a beautiful way of conveying the idea of submerging one’s individual identity into a larger whole — very apt for an NBA team, particularly Boston, with the three superstars coming in this season, two by way of a trade.

In a way, the same thing that the Celtics did — that’s what we have to do when we’re making the movie. We have to blend all the talents into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. We can’t be driven by ego … we need to pull together, find the totality of the concept we’re trying to create.

I grew up with sports….football, basketball, baseball until later years of high school — then golf in the spring. I went through two-a-days in Mississippi, and in Pennsylvania with a coach who had actually survived the Bataan Death March and thought that was a fitting template for what he wanted to put us through. Directing an indie feature is worse than — or I should say (remember, no editing, that’s the deal here, so I have to correct on the fly)…not worse than, but more challenging than, those high school and college two-a-days. I’m talking just physically for starters — when you do a “regular” shoting day its 12 hours and 45 minutes of actual shoot time, and then there is the prep before and after — and all of that time is on your feet, in the heat (or here, in the water)…..I don’t know what it’s like on studio shoots….sometimes I see behind the scenes stuff and I wonder what it must be like to have 60- or 75 days to shoot the film…to have to do a page a day or less…..and then look at us — 5, 6, 7 pages a day, every day an impossible challenge to get it all done, get the performances, get the coverage….

Wow…it’s a 40 point lead now … 129/89. Got to give the Celtics their due. Ubuntu. Signing off.

UPDATE: The game’s over and Kevin Garnett just gave the most amazing interview…I’m sure a lot of people will be turned off by it….but I was move by it. Michelle Tafoya asked him what it felt like and he just threw his head back and screamed “Anything is possible!”…said it three or four times….. then buried his head and cried……How few of us ever get to experience what he experienced tonight. So many years proving he’s a good player, a great player — but tonight he got the championship and it overwhelmed him. I’m jealous – can’t deny it. Want that moment. Will keep fighting for it.

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