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Study: Hawaii environment not hurt by training

HONOLULU — A Navy study being released Friday concludes the service is able to limit any adverse impact to Hawaii’s environment from sailor training, including exercises that use sonar, missiles and bombs.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet prepared the environmental impact statement to ensure it complies with federal environmental law. The Navy is conducting similar studies for training ranges off California, the Pacific Northwest and other areas.

The Hawaii Range Complex, which forms a square in the ocean around the main Hawaiian islands, is the first to be studied.

It includes a 1,855 square nautical mile chunk of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Monument near Nihoa Island. The monument, which President Bush created last year, is 100,000 square nautical miles.

The Navy study outlines how often surface ships would practice firing missiles, how many times a year Navy SEALs and U.S. Marines would conduct reconnaissance missions drills and other aspects of training.

A key part assesses the impact active sonar has on whales, dolphins and other marine mammals in the islands.

To use active sonar, sailors pump sound waves through the ocean and listen for echoes to locate enemy submarines that might be lurking nearby. Sailors also use passive sonar, but this technology only involves listening for sounds in the ocean, not bouncing sound through the sea.

Environmentalists say the active sonar sound waves can hurt or kill the animals. The Navy counters that it takes measures to protect marine mammals from its sonar.

Friday’s report reflected this Navy stance, noting no marine mammal was likely to be injured by sonar training in Hawaiian waters if sailors followed the Navy’s standard steps for protecting the animals.

Those measures include posting lookouts and having technicians turn off their ship’s active sonar when marine mammals come within 200 yards, the report said.

Environmentalists argue such methods don’t do enough to protect marine mammals.

In May, Earthjustice and other environmental groups sued the Navy in federal court in Honolulu, demanding that it stop using sonar until sailors adopt adequate mitigation measures.

Earthjustice said posting lookouts wouldn’t protect whales that dive for long periods.

Neil Sheehan, the Pacific Fleet’s project manager for Friday’s report, said sailors have a long history of training with sonar in the islands without injuring marine mammals.

“The Navy has been operating and training in this area for 40 or 50 years,” he said.

Sheehan added Hawaii-based sailors need to exercise in Hawaiian waters to be ready to deploy anywhere anytime in an emergency.

“The backyard units — the ships and subs and planes — need a place to train,” Sheehan said.

The Navy must still seek permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service to train with sonar even if the environmental impact statement is approved. The report will likely inform the permitting process by adding to the body of knowledge on the effects of sonar.

The public will have until Sept. 17 to comment. Public meetings on the report will be held between Aug. 21-29 in Lihue, Honolulu, Wailuku and Hilo.

The Navy’s report for its range off California is expected to be released in December. Others will follow for waters off the Northern Mariana Islands, the East Coast and the Pacific Northwest.