The Conservation Report

ANIMAL WELFARE: Houston Zoo elephant Mac, 2, dies of viral illness

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Ice Melt Sparks Plankton Blooms

AUTO INDUSTRY: Ford Scion Looks Beyond Bailout to Green Agenda

BIOFUELS: US Dept of Energy and Brazil to Commercialize Biofuels

BIOLOGY: Top 10 Useless Limbs (and Other Vestigial Organs)

BIOMASS: New Biomass Plants Called For in Obama’s Green Agenda

CAMPAIGN 2008: Challenged ballots: You be the judge

CHINA: China tells rich polluting nations to change lifestyle

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nike, Starbucks Demand Congress To Act On Climate Change, An historic summit of state and provincial governors from around the world convened this week in California to advance national and worldwide efforts to fight climate change — and The Nature Conservancy played a key role in the summit’s success.

CORAL REEFS: Pacific Shipwrecks Potentially Toxic Timebombs, Scientists try to revive Japan’s biggest coral reef: Scientists are in an unprecedented project to restore Japan’s largest coral reef by planting thousands of baby corals growing on tiny ceramic beds.

DEFORESTATION: 3,000 Person Mob Attacks Govt. Offices to Protest Crackdown on Illegal Amazon Logging

DEREGULATION: Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Safety Rule Obama Opposes

DRILL BABY DRILL: Court Says Shell Can’t Drill Near Alaska: A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked Royal Dutch Shell from drilling oil wells off Alaska’s North Slope after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New electric version of MINI Cooper offers MINI fun with zero emissions.

ENERGY: Phone Makers Monitor Charger Energy Consumption, Dutch homes get warm water from disused coal mine

ENVIRONMENT: Dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask

EVOLUTION: “Smile” Octopus Spawned Many Species

FAIRTRADE: Starbucks to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink sold in Britain: Starbucks is to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink it sells in Britain, the company has announced.

FAST FOOD: Fast Food Made Up Mostly of Corn

FOOD: Tyson Foods Injects Chickens with Antibiotics Before They Hatch to Claim “Raised without Antibiotics”

FORESTS: Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: Once Thought Invasive, Some Galápagos Plants Can Call the Place Home: For years, conservationists have been concerned about the impact of invasive plant species in the Galápagos Islands. Hundreds of species have been identified as nonnative, introduced through human contact. The idea was to remove these plants to help keep the archipelago ecologically pristine.

GENETICS: Lizards, Birds Have Hair Genes

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Raser Technologies Gives Utah a New Geothermal Plant to Power Homes

GLACIAL MELTING: Baby Chimp Rescued From Congo Army

GLOBAL WARMING: New Ice Age Predicted — But Averted by Global Warming?

GREAT APES: Tibetan Glaciers Melting at Stunning Rate

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Kulongoski lobbies to bring China’s new hybrid car to Oregon, LA 2008: Honda shows off Insight’s Eco Assist dashboard

INVASIVE SPECIES: Beetle Invasion to Dim New England Fall Colors?, More cockroaches expected in Florida

LANDFILLS: Israel Turns 2,000 Acre Trash Dump into One of World’s Largest Parks

MARINE MAMMALS: Why Do Dolphins Rub Flippers?

NASA: Going Out On A Limb With A Tree-Person Ratio: Who knew that NASA, charged with looking deep into space, also looks backward at us? For years, NASA satellites have been snapping photos of our oceans, mountains and forests, and sharing them with ecologists and biologists.

NATURAL GAS: Drill for Natural Gas, Pollute Water: In July a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wy. and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people.

NATURE: Debate: Which is the world’s most invaluable species?: Plankton, bats, primates, fungi and bees - which species would have the greatest impact on our planet if it were lost? Five experts set out their case public debate in London next Thursday

NEW SPECIES: Penguin, Now Extinct, Discovered in New Zealand: Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

NONRENEWABLE ENERGY: U.S. Moves Ahead on Oil, Gas Leases on Public Land: Decision Could Pose Problem for Obama

PALM OIL: The slippery business of palm oil: Palm oil is used in a third of all groceries. But can it ever be produced without causing environmental devastation as some big companies are promising?

PLASMA GASIFICATION PLANT: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy

PRIUS: BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial - PriusChat.com, BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial #2 - PriusChat.com

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists: A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim., Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy, Britain’s water mills given role in clean energy generation, EPA Coal Decision Levels Playing Field for Wind, Solar

RECYCLING: Why California Recycled 80% of Glass and the Rest of the U.S. 30%

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: “Extinct” Primate Found in Indonesia

SEA LEVEL RISE: Schwarzenegger Orders California to Prepare for Sea-Level Rise

SMART GRID TECHNOLOGY: Boulder, Colo.: America’s First ‘Smart Grid City’: Some Homes Can Remotely Control All Aspects of Their Energy-Saving Features, Report Calls for Overhaul of Power Grid to Handle Sun and Wind Power

SOLAR: Solar Panels Are Vanishing, Only to Reappear on the Internet, Solar at Sea: Chinese Cargo Ships Will Have Solar Sails, Solar-Powered Plane to Perform Test Flight

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Cuba Gets Green Cred: Cuba is the only country that meets the criteria for sustainable development from the conservation group WWF. But concern persists for once thriving Caribbean marine turtles.

WATER AVAILABILITY: The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air, Cow Sh*t to Clean Water

WHALING: Japanese Whalers Set Sail, Say Witnesses

WILD HORSES: U.S. Won’t Kill Wild Horses — For Now

WIND POWER: Giving Turbines a Boost With Curves, 360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009, Mega Wind Farms Could Steer Storms, Offshore Wind Power Could Alter Ocean Currents: “Whether or not this is a good thing is a matter of debate,” Brostrom said. Though he stressed that the goal for any man-made object should be to minimize environmental impact, he added: “I’m an optimist; I think this could be beneficial to local fisheries.”, Don’t Call it a Wind Farm, It’s an EcoPower Centre: Canada’s Largest Wind Project (200 MW) Opens

WTF?: Levelling the lingerie playing field: An online shop in Japan has seen an extraordinary demand for its newest product: bras for men. More than 300 have been snapped up in two weeks

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

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While kitesurfing off the Northern Australian coast, a camera attached to kiteboarder David Sheridan’s sail captured this image of a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) breaching near the kitesurfer. The massive marine mammal’s fluke knocked the surfer off his kiteboard. From the Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom:

“It all happened so fast that all I could do was crouch down as the whale swam under me,” Mr Sheridan told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“I saw the huge shape and my reaction was to duck while remaining attached to the flying lines from the sail above me.

“The next thing I felt was its tail come up and hit me on the back of the head.

“I honestly thought I was gone – it was such a forceful blow – but then the whale eased off and I was able to sail away.

“But my legs were really shaking. I’ve never been through anything like that before and probably never will again.”

Mr Sheridan’s camera was attached to the kite and programmed to take photos every ten seconds. He was kiteboarding near Valla Beach, off the north coast of New South Wales, with two friends.

“The camera was set to start firing off shots every 10 seconds as soon as I hit the water. When the sail was at full height the camera was about 25m above the surface.

Another windsurfer recently had an encounter with a marine mammal, or a pod of orcas actually. From Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand:

“A couple of the local guys, Olly and Keith, noticed them and said `come on, get back out there’ … to be honest I was bricking it. I know them as killer whales and I thought no way am I going out there with killer whales,” Mr Taggart said.

“But I went out and was taking it quite carefully when the mother popped up right in front of me.

“I never thought I would ever do that … it was crazily intense. She was literally metres away.”

Mr Taggart was out on the water with the orcas for about 15 minutes, but lack of wind meant it was difficult to stay with them.

“I was just trying to enjoy the moment. I was absolutely blown away.

“They came through so quickly … I guess I was fortunate to be there at the right moment.”

Locals had told him orcas came in close to shore to flush out stingray before circling and eating them.

Image Found Here
Image Found Here

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I agree that there is a public and obviously a military interest to conduct certain military exercises, but what about the public interest in protecting the whales. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that “the US Navy can continue to use long-range sonar in exercises off the California coast, dismissing arguments that the practice was harmful to whales.”

Furthermore, Chief Justice Roberts did not believe that evidence exists to show that certain types of sonar can distress cetaceans and result in barotrauma, but there is evidence that whales are being harmed by certain types of sonar that is being used by the Navy—especially data regarding the stranding behavior of beaked whales. However, the Chief Justice chose to ignore the evidence and claimed that a lower California court’s holding went too far, but certainly the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision went too far, because the Navy should be required to do more in order to mitigate harm.  I previously wrote here about certain types of sonar interacting with marine mammals:

There is strong evidence that the use of low- and mid-frequency active sonar may adversely harm marine mammals by causing injury through some combination of barotrauma, hemorrhaging, stranding, and trauma. For example, deep-diving pelagic cetaceans like the Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) rarely strand en masse. When strandings of such deep-diving marine mammals do occur they are associated with a “meaningful proximity of military [maneuvers].” It would be interesting to discuss the possibility of predation on injured whales that suffer acoustic induced trauma before they become stranded.

The lower courts did make attempts to allow military exercises, which may harm whales by providing that: “During a ‘critical point’ in a training exercise, the Navy may use the sonar at a lower decibel level even when mammals are spotted within a mile of the ship” instead of powering “down the sonar [completely] whenever [marine] mammals came within 1.25 miles of a ship.” So why does the Navy get to have its cake and eat it too? Certainly, the Navy could be doing more. The battle between the Navy and environmentalists and Chief Justice Roberts and the environmentalists, seems to be one that’s ideological. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined Chief Justice Roberts in the majority opinion.  Too bad Justice Anthony M. Kennedy did not join the dissent to make a majority. From the Los Angeles Times:

Chief Justice John G. Roberts said the Navy needs to train its crews to detect enemy submarines, and it cannot be forced to turn off its sonar when whales are spotted nearby. “The public interest in conducting training exercises with active sonar under realistic conditions plainly outweighs” the concerns voiced by environmentalists, he said for a 5-4 majority.

Roberts faulted judges in California for “second-guessing” the views of Navy leaders. “Where the public interest lies does not strike us as a close question,” he said.

Roberts also questioned whether whales have indeed been harmed by sonar. He said the Navy had been operating off the California coast for 40 years “without a single documented sonar-related injury to any marine mammal.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups strongly disagreed. They say studies conducted around the world have shown that the piercing underwater sounds cause whales to flee in panic. These studies said some whales have beached themselves and have shown signs of bleeding in their ears as a result of high-powered sonar.

In case history, the Natural Resources Defense Council had used the Navy’s own evidence that suggested certain types of sonar are harmful to marine mammals, particularly beaked whales. From the Los Angeles Times:

They relied heavily on the Navy’s own studies to show the probable harm to marine mammals, including the vulnerable beaked whale.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper agreed with the NRDC that use of the mid-frequency sonar would create a “near certainty” of harm to the mammals. In January of this year, she handed down an order that limited the Navy’s use of sonar when marine mammals came within 2,200 yards of a vessel. She said sonar could not be used with 12 miles of the coast, nor near the Catalina Basin, where whales congregate.

Navy leaders took particular exception to the requirement to power down the sonar whenever the mammals came within 1.25 miles of a ship.

.       .       .

Richard B. Kendall, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented the NRDC, pointed out that the justices had recently rejected a similar claim from the administration that the military’s need to hold “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay trumps the detainees’ right to go to court.

“We expect that the Supreme Court will again hold that the military must obey our nation’s laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, and reinforce the message that the Navy should train using sonar, but train responsibly so that it causes the least possible harm to whales and other marine life,” Kendall said.

The high court will hear arguments in Winter vs. NRDC in the fall.

Image Found Here

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Two populations of orcas, known as the northern and southern populations inhabiting the waters surrounding southern British Columbia and northern Washington, are going missing.

Orca hunting behavior and diet are geographically dependent. As a result, three types of orcas are recognized: resident, transient, and offshore. Although these orca types appear the same, each type has “specific genetic differences and specific food preferences and habits.” The resident orca type are salmon specialists, so declining salmon stocks are probably having a negative impact on these orcas. Certainly there are probably other related factors, but it’s safe to postulate that these animals require their main source of protein—salmon—in order to sustain their massive bodies. “Peanut head,” a term of art describing an orca’s condition, is a sign of starvation, and it has been reported from the area by fisheries observers and researchers. From Canada.com, Canada:

Some endangered southern resident killer whales are developing “peanut heads,” showing they are not getting enough food, said Howard Garrett of Washington-based Orca Network.

“They are looking sick. There is usually a thick layer of blubber just behind the skull, and that seems to be the first place to be drawn from when they need to draw down blubber,” he said. “In some of them, there’s a dip right behind the blow-hole and, when you see that, you know the whale has been hungry.”

.       .       .

Unusual liaisons are happening as the whales search for elusive chinook salmon, Garrett said.

“A small group from L Pod have been traveling with J Pod all summer long, and twice J Pod has split into two completely separate groups, out of acoustic range from each other,” he said. “It’s an indication that they are searching high and low and in every nook and cranny for fish.”

.       .       .

The strategy’s objectives are to ensure the whales have an adequate and accessible food supply, that chemical and biological pollutants and disturbance from human activities do not prevent recovery and that critical habitat is protected.

John Ford, marine mammal scientist at DFO’s Pacific Biological Station, is an expert on the eating habits of resident killer whales. Ford wrote last year in a University of British Columbia paper, that “resident killer whales may be dependent on chinook salmon, and the abundance of this prey species may have a direct effect on their survival.”

From the Globe and Mail, Canada:

The northern resident population, which ranges around the northern end of Vancouver Island, has relatively stable numbers. The group has about 200 whales, a decline of about 7 per cent since 2000. But reports this summer indicate the population has been struggling to find food.

The southern residents, a population of 83 whales found in Puget Sound and the southern end of the Strait of Georgia, have been hit harder. Not only have they had few salmon to feed on, but the Center for Whale Research, a U.S. facility that has been studying the population for 30 years, reported last week that seven adults - including two reproductive females - have vanished. Two calves are also missing.

Observers had earlier reported signs of starvation in some of the whales, which develop a distinctive condition known as “peanut head” when they lose weight. And the birth rate has declined - with only one calf born this year.

Dr. Barrett-Lennard said the southern resident population fell to 90 in 2004 from a historic level of about 200 and now is at 83.

Image Found Here

Recent acoustic monitoring near New York Harbor reveals the presence of cetaceans. From Physorg.com:

The recorders were placed about 13 miles from the New York Harbor entrance and off the shores of Fire Island. Information about the seasonal presence of whales will help New York state policymakers develop management plans to protect them. Knowing the whales’ travel paths will help ship traffic managers avoid whale collisions in New York waters. Further, the study will characterize New York waters’ acoustic environment and examine whether underwater noises, including shipping, affect the whales.

Hat tip to Kevin.

AGRICULTURE: Amazon Rain Forest’s Untapped Fruit Bounty

AIR POLLUTION: 35W sculptures aren’t just for looks: Cemstone became the first company in the nation to use a new form of concrete that removes carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A baaa-d idea? Aussie sheep made to wear gas masks so scientists can see how their breath can affect climate

CONSERVATION: Colorado tests high tech roadkill prevention system

CORAL REEFS: Florida Town Wants to Grow Coral Reefs with Electricity: As coral reefs around the world continue to disappear, one Florida town has taken the initiative by investing $60,000 to stimulate coral reef growth using electricity. While there is not yet peer-reviewed evidence to suggest that using a low powered electrical current works, scientists are not dismissing the idea. The company that has been hired to make the reefs claims that they have had many prior successes.

DINOSAURS: Site thought to be a watering hole discovered on Arizona-Utah border where dinosaurs ‘were happy’

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Texas Teen Builds His Own Electric Car on $10,000 Budget, Johnson Controls: electric cars will eventually win out, Berlin Announces Plans for World’s Largest Community Electric Car Infrastructure, Oreva Super Electric Car Going for $2000 in India

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Government May Weaken Endangered Species Act For Fish, IUCN Reveals That 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth Are Threatened with Extinction: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis

ENERGY: Can Electricity From Trees Power Gadgets?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: Do environmental messages do more harm than good?

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake

FUEL SPILL: Hurricane Ike Spilled 12,000 Barrels of Oil: Is Offshore Oil Worth the Risk?

FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR ECONOMY: You Buy, You Break At Sarah’s Smash Shack

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Geothermal Sources Could Add Significant Power Generation Capacity

GLOBAL WARMING: Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact: New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can’t be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.

GREEN: How green is Apple now?

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing

HABITAT DEGRADATION, LOSS, & FRAGMENTATION: Chimps 90 Percent Gone in a “Final Stronghold”

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NATURAL: How gay sex can produce offspring

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: 2010 Toyota Prius Adds Muscle at Expense of Fuel Efficiency: Toyota’s yet-to-be-unveiled 2010 Prius will have a bigger engine and a higher top speed, but improvements to CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency will take a backseat, Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: Aquatic alien ‘thugs’ set to meet

MARINE MAMMALS: Picture is Worth a Thousand…

NATURE: Planet’s loneliest bug revealed: A bug which lives entirely on its own and survives without oxygen in complete darkness underground has been discovered in South Africa, Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera

OBAMA: Racist Obama Billboard Causes Outrage, Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION: Lockheed Martin to Develop Ocean Thermal Energy Prototype

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Making America Stupid

PLANET EARTH: Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression: Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay

RECYCLING: Real Simple Recycling A to Z: A Comprehensive Primer on Recycling Nearly Everything, Often for a Good Cause, 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

SARAH PALIN: Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists

SOCIAL ISSUES: Homeless numbers ‘alarming’

SOLAR: Solar Power Replaces Human Toil in New Rickshaws, Solar Wineries Taking Root and Coming into Bloom

TOXIC CHEMICALS: Adding the ‘Nasty Nine’ to the ‘Dirty Dozen’: The United Nations Considers Expanding Toxic Chemical Ban by 75%, Heavy Metal-Eating “Superworms” Unearthed in U.K.

WATER CONSERVATION: Caroma Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet: 2008 Breakthrough Product

WIND POWER: Taiwan students invent wind-powered bicycle headlights, Navy charters kite-powered cargo ship to deliver equipment, Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

IMAGE: NOAA fisheries biologists fix a satellite transmitter onto a female beluga whale in Cook Inlet, Alaska. (AP Photo/NOAA)

Genetic isolation from other beluga whale stocks, industrial development, and a failure to recover are some factors that resulted in NOAA’s decision to list the Cook Inlet population of beluga whales as endangered. NOAA’s decision contradicts Republican vice-presidential candidate Alaskan governor Sarah Palin’s view that Cook Inlet beluga whales are not endangered. From NOAA:

In 2000, NOAA declared the Cook Inlet beluga population depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In response to a petition submitted by the Trustees for Alaska on April 20, 2006, the agency proposed on April 20, 2007, that Cook Inlet beluga whales be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The act requires a final determination by Oct. 20, 2008. This announcement is the result of NOAA’s scientific review of the proposal to list Cook Inlet belugas.

The Cook Inlet beluga population declined nearly 50 percent between 1994 and 1998, based on annual scientific surveys. NOAA scientists estimated the Cook Inlet beluga population at 375 for both 2007 and 2008. Estimates have varied from a high of 653 belugas in 1994 to a low of 278 belugas in 2005.

Despite restrictions on Alaskan Native subsistence harvest of Cook Inlet belugas starting in 1999, the population is still not recovering. Between 1999 and 2006, Alaska Native hunters took a total of five Cook Inlet beluga whales for subsistence. No beluga whales were harvested in 2007 or 2008.

Cook Inlet belugas are one of five populations of belugas recognized within U.S. waters. The other beluga populations inhabit Bristol Bay, the eastern Bering Sea, the eastern Chukchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea. Of the five stocks of beluga whales in Alaska, the Cook Inlet population is considered to be the most isolated, based on the degree of genetic differentiation and geographic distance between the Cook Inlet population and the four other beluga stocks.

The recovery of the Cook Inlet whales is potentially hindered by strandings; continued development within and along upper Cook Inlet and the cumulative effects on important beluga habitat; oil and gas exploration, development, and production; industrial activities that discharge or accidentally spill pollutants; disease; and predation by killer whales. The agency will identify habitat essential to the conservation of Cook Inlet belugas in a separate rulemaking within a year.

On the Net: Experts reject Palin’s claim over decline of beluga whales in Alaska
On the Net: Cook Inlet Alaska Beluga Whales and Beluga Whales in Western Alaska

Los Angeles lawyer Richard B. Kendall described the sonar as like the sound of “a jet engine in this room multiplied by 2,000 times.” He said beaked whales, in panic, dive deeply to escape the sound, and they sometimes suffer bleeding and even death when they try to resurface.

- Via the Los Angeles Times, CA

Today the United States Supreme Court argued Winter, et al. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., et al., and the justices seem split down ideological lines.  The issue today was “whether courts below properly enjoined the Navy’s use of sonar during certain training exercises for failure to conduct an environmental impact statement over a finding of ‘emergency circumstance’ by the Council on Environmental Quality.”  Basically, did the lower court correctly instruct that the Navy must comply with environmental regulations, since no “emergency circumstances” existed to act as an exemption for noncompliance?  

Is the use of mid-frequency active sonar absolutely necessary to national security? Certainly we don’t want to see cetacean populations adversely affected.  I think a balancing test taking into consideration the revenue generated from whale watching or any type of activity that is linked to cetaceans, in addition to the hard to quantify enjoyment they provide for many people, against the Navy’s claim that conducting harmful military exercises are absolutely necessary, then the whales certainly win and deserve protection.  A ruling in Winter v. NRDC should is expected next year.  From Reuters:

The four liberal justices expressed concern over the administration’s failure to do an environmental impact statement before sonar training exercises began off the southern California coast.

Environmentalists say the intense sound waves used in sonar training exercises can harm or even kill endangered whales, possibly by interfering with the marine mammals’ dive patterns.

During the arguments, the conservative justices appeared supportive of the administration’s argument that judges should defer to the judgment of the Navy and Bush, and allow the submarine-hunting exercises.

After a judge issued a preliminary injunction imposing numerous restrictions on the Navy, Bush intervened. He cited the national security necessity of the training and exempted the Navy from the environmental laws at the heart of the legal challenge.

A U.S. appeals court rejected the White House’s effort to exempt the Navy from the laws, prompting the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The conservative justices presented tough questioning to lawyer Richard Kendall.  Furthermore, the conservative justices seem to agree with U.S. Solicitor General Gregory Garre’s arguments that the lower court’s ruling against the Navy is harmful to national security.  The Solicitor General also argued that the Navy’s sonar use is not harmful to marine mammals.  NPR highlighted some arguments heard today:

Inside the courtroom, Justice Samuel Alito asked the government’s chief advocate just how many marine mammals have been killed or injured. Solicitor General Gregory Garre contended that there has been no serious harm.

Justice Ginsburg: I thought there are records of 564-beaked whales suffering severe harm. 

Garre: Our best evidence is that that harm has not been permanent.

Much of the argument focused on the Navy’s refusal to produce an environmental impact statement before it began the exercises.

Justice Souter: You’ve known since before the exercises began in 2007 that this was a requirement, and you still didn’t produce it. Why shouldn’t we say the only emergency was created deliberately by the Navy? 

Justice Breyer: The reason the law requires the environmental impact statement is that once the agency reads it, it might decide to do something different. That’s the whole point.

But it was Kendall, representing environmental groups, who took the real beating Wednesday.

Justice Alito: There’s something incredibly odd about a single district court judge making a judgment contrary to the determination the Navy has made. 

Kendall: The judge was extraordinarily deferential to the Navy, but the evidence showed that the Navy could, without any major problems, conduct these exercises in a way that minimized damage to marine mammals. 

Justice Kennedy: The president and the Defense Department deserve some deference, too. 

Justice Breyer: The Navy is saying, “If we can’t train personnel using these levels of sonar, we can’t train people to find submarines where they hide.” This makes me very nervous. 

Chief Justice Roberts: We should stop the Navy from doing this just because we think there is likelihood they might be inflicting unneeded damage? 

Kendall: Yes … the Navy cannot be the judge of its own cause. There’s a limit to deference. … The evidence is overwhelming that beaked whales are being stranded by sonar and killed. Autopsies show they are hemorrhaging and dying. 

Justice Breyer: You go on a bombing mission — do you have to prepare an environmental impact statement? 

Kendall: No, of course not in combat. But here in a training exercise, the military is supposed to minimize the damage.

I previously wrote here about sonar interacting with marine mammals:

There is strong evidence that the use of low- and mid-frequency active sonar may adversely harm marine mammals by causing injury through some combination of barotrauma, hemorrhaging, stranding, and trauma. For example, deep-diving pelagic cetaceans like the Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) rarely strand en masse. When strandings of such deep-diving marine mammals do occur they are associated with a “meaningful proximity of military [maneuvers].” It would be interesting to discuss the possibility of predation on injured whales that suffer acoustic induced trauma before they become stranded.

LA Times diagram found here
Beached Shepard’s beaked whale by photographer Peter Simpson image found here
Image at right showing beached beaked whales found here

I’ve heard of marine mammals and sea turtles interacting or becoming entangled with fishing gear or ingesting plastic trash such as helium balloons, but I never realized that chicken wire, Christmas lights, hammocks, soccer goals, and other anthropogenic materials can be so problematic for moose (Alces alces). More images showing moose entanglements can be found here.

In the ocean, entanglement or interaction with anthropogenic materials or marine debris is a serious problem for marine mammals and sea turtles, because interaction or entanglement with these materials can prevent them from reaching the surface to breathe air. Entanglement can also result in tissue damage and starvation. Ingesting plastic can result in impaction within the gut, thus starvation. So, if you can’t recycle your trash, make sure it reaches the landfill by placing it in the garbage.

Hat tip to Kevin.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: $800 Million Prize for Alternative Energy to Power Africa’s Villages

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wheeled Tortoise Gets Around

ANTARCTIC MELTING: “New” Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

ARCTIC MELTING: Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts, Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic

AUTO INDUSTRY: Shaq buys smart fortwo, wears as shoe, Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

BIG OIL: ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage Oil Expansion Plans In L.A. Rile Residents

BIOPLASTICS: Biodegradable Plastics Are Good for Atmosphere, Too

BIOPRODUCTS: Dandelion Rubber Could Replace Rare Sources, Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to Eat

BLOGGING: What Makes for a Good Blog?

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Cattails Shown to Be Effective CO2-Eaters

CHINA: MINI Clubman Rickshaws running around Beijing

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms, West Africa’s coastline redrawn by climate change: experts

COMPOSTING: Human Waste Used by 200 Million Farmers, Study Says

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: ARE WE ALL STILL ENVIRONMENTALISTS?, The Death of Environmentalism?, FREE & GREEN: A NEW APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Green but Anti-Government, Pro-Environment, Not Pro-EPA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Appeals Court OKs Oil Firms’ Billion-Dollar Award, Companies to end lead wheel weight use in Calif.

EXTINCTION: Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

FOOD: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted

FUEL ECONOMY: Sweden Requires Fuel-Efficient Driving Lessons, Billions of gallons of gas could be saved by “Smart Intersections”

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Oregon Tech To Be Powered Entirely By Geothermal Energy, Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy

GIANT SQUID: Colossal Squid Ripped, Stitched, Hoisted and Moved

GLACIAL MELTING: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

GLOBAL WARMING: Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?, Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before, Birds Thrown Off by Global Warming, Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb

GREEN: Colorado Creating US’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Community

GREEN CONSERVATISM: Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling, Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post, McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions

GREENWASHING: Shell rebuked for ‘greenwash’ over ad for polluting oil project

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: People vs. Monkeys in Singapore

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Calif. Requires Hybrid Cars To Make Some Noise

INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Lionfish Explode

MARINE CONSERVATION: NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears, Bush Seeks to Protect 3 Pacific Island Chains

MARINE MAMMALS: “Ugliest Dolphin” Finally Filmed, Mexico Invests to Save Endangered Porpoise

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanomaterial Cleans up Broken Fluorescent Bulbs

NEW SPECIES: Newfound Monkey Species “Rarest in Africa,” Expert Says, New, “Chubbier” River Dolphin Species Found in Bolivia

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean ‘dead zones’ expanding worldwide: study

PLASTIC: Did Big Plastic Pay Off The FDA???

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak Gets Funding Boost To Meet Record Demand, Sweden Rolling Out 183 MPH High-Speed Green Train

RECLAIMED OR RECYCLED WATER: Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

RECYCLING: Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, gets trashy, Old tires make new roads, No Economic Slowdown For Reusable Bags

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Colorado to Ditch Two Coal Plants, Moving to Solar and Wind, 13 Magnificent Renewable Energy Successes and Failures

SOLAR: IKEA Solar Panels on the Horizon, Miami Gets 600 Solar Bus Shelters, Coal Power Plant Retrofit With Solar, Solar Efficiency Record Broken, Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US, Want Solar? Head to Sam’s Club, 2 Large Solar Plants Planned in California, Will Each Be 10 Times Bigger Than Largest Now in Service, Solar-Powered Plane Flies for Nearly 83 Hours, Doubles World Record, Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

SUSTAINABILITY: Wal-Mart Pares Costs By Selling Local Produce

WALL-E: Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E

WATER POLLUTION: AP: Drugs found in drinking water

WATER WARS: McCain’s Colorado River Gaffe Might Cost Him Key Western States

WETLANDS: Australian Wetlands Threatened

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

WIND POWER: New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off, Kites Could Become Major Source Of Wind Power, Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Huge Insectarium Opens, Lonesome George a Father?

Area or seasonal restrictions are a fair compromise. However, the issue should have been resolved long before, and the Bush Administration shouldn’t have attempted to circumvent environmental regulations. The Bush Administration’s attempt to cherry pick and ignore certain laws sends a dangerous message to corporations and future politicians that environmental regulation isn’t an important or necessary tool for environmental management. These conservatives believe that the markets are infallible and can solve everything, which isn’t true. Regulation is very much needed. Furthermore, litigation is important in environmental regulation because it promotes accountability, solutions, and remedies. From the San Francisco Chronicle, USA:

Scientists say sonar damages the hearing organs of sea mammals, disrupts their lives and has caused many whale species to strand themselves on shores. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a plaintiff in the suit, said Navy studies have found that low-frequency sonar can disrupt whale behavior more than 300 miles away.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over President Bush’s attempt to exempt the Navy from environmental laws restricting its use of mid-frequency sonar in training exercises off Southern California. Mid-frequency sonar travels shorter distances, but environmental groups say it is more harmful to sea creatures than low-frequency pulses.

Under Tuesday’s settlement, the Navy can use low-frequency sonar only in certain areas near the Philippines and Japan, with seasonal restrictions, and in another region 50 miles north and south of Hawaii, far removed from two Hawaiian sanctuaries for marine life.

IMAGE: Peter Morris

The humpback whale calf, affectionately named Colin, that tried to suckle from a yacht in waters near Sydney, Australia, is suffering from shark bite wounds and infection. Experts believe it is best to euthanize the calf. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

A spokesman for the service, John Dengate, said the calf, thought to be two- to three-weeks old, would be killed by lethal injection this morning after it was decided it was too dangerous to enter the water after dark.

“They’ll give it an overdose of anaesthetic,” he said last night.

“The last thing we want is that the whale should suffer. The vets are saying ‘he hasn’t got long to go - you should take action’. It was too dangerous to do it last night so we’ll have to relocate it in the morning. It’s not impossible he will have passed away.

“The animal is suffering shark-inflicted injuries, is experiencing breathing difficulties and its flukes are hanging down.”

Image Found Here

Yesterday the Supreme Court Justices agreed to debate whether the Navy can ignore environmental regulation. At issue is the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit enforcing environmental regulation versus a perceived stronger need for national defense.

There is strong evidence that the use of low- and mid-frequency active sonar may adversely harm marine mammals by causing injury through some combination of barotrauma, hemorrhaging, stranding, and trauma. For example, deep-diving pelagic cetaceans like the Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) rarely strand en masse. When strandings of such deep-diving marine mammals do occur they are associated with a “meaningful proximity of military [maneuvers].” It would be interesting to discuss the possibility of predation on injured whales that suffer acoustic induced trauma before they become stranded.

The case, Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council will be heard during the Court’s next term, which begins October 2008. The questions presented for the Court include:

The district court found a likelihood that the Navy failed to comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and preliminarily enjoined the Navy’s use of midfrequency
active (MFA) sonar during training exercises that prepare Navy strike
groups for worldwide deployment. The Chief of Naval Operations concluded that the
injunction unacceptably risks the training of naval forces for deployment to highthreat
areas overseas, and the President of the United States determined that the
use of MFA sonar during these exercises is “essential to national security.” The
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), applying a longstanding regulation,
accordingly found “emergency circumstances” for complying with NEPA without
completing an environmental impact statement. The Ninth Circuit nevertheless
sustained the district court’s conclusion that no “emergency circumstances” were
present and affirmed the preliminary injunction. The questions presented are:

1. Whether CEQ permissibly construed its own regulation in finding “emergency
circumstances.”

2. Whether, in any event, the preliminary injunction, based on a preliminary finding
that the Navy had not satisfied NEPA’s procedural requirements, is inconsistent

On the Net: PROCEEDINGS OF THE WORKSHOP ON ACTIVE SONAR AND CETACEANS
On the Net: Ad-Hoc Group on the Impact of Sonar on Cetaceans

IMAGE: Divemaster Rainer Schimpf captured this image near Algoa Bay, off Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Orcas (Orcinus orca) have been photographed off the South African coast hunting their smaller cousins the long-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus capensis). This behavior is not surprising since orcas are apex predators that have extensive diets.

Orca hunting behavior and diet are geographically dependent. Orcas feed readily on both cold-blooded and warm-blooded prey and some populations seem to prefer fish while others prefer marine mammals. These populations do not mix and some argue that they might even be distinct species or subspecies. This biological phenomenon occurs in other marine mammals too. For example, the western North Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates) occurs in two forms: coastal and offshore ecotypes. North Atlantic offshore bottlenose dolphins prefer deeper water. When I was a National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries observer, part of our biological sampling protocol was (and still is) to collect certain tissues and organs from dead marine mammals incidentally taken in fishing gear (if the whole animal could not be taken). Supposedly, the offshore bottlenose dolphins had bigger hearts and lungs that allowed deeper dives than the smaller coastal form. As a result, we were to perform necropsies as necessary on marine mammals at sea to harvest tissue and organs. These data allow scientists to gain a better understanding of the genetic and life histories of certain species of marine mammals.

On the west coast of North America, three types of orcas are identified: resident, transient, and offshore. Resident orcas feed on fish such as salmon and are more social animals than transient orcas, which feed on seals. The offshore forms feed on fish and occur in large groups.

Cold-blooded prey of orcas may include fish such as Chinook and Coho salmon, herring, sharks and tuna in addition to cephalopods like squid. Sea turtles are preyed upon too. Their mammalian prey consists of small and large cetaceans (whales), dolphins, and porpoises. Cannibalism has been reported too. Pinnipeds such as seals and walruses are taken. Sea otters and birds of prey may be consumed as well. Additionally, orcas have even been observed preying on terrestrial mammals such as deer and moose crossing between islands. There has been no confirmed report of orcas preying on humans. Humans have been harassed by wild orcas (I hesitate to use the word attack) but probably by mistake. However, captive orcas have attacked humans. From Metro, UK:

Investigating why there had been a shortage of common dolphins about in the bay, [Rainer Schimpf] was amazed to see a pod being chased by five killer whales – or orcas – made up of three adults and two babies.

‘More astonishing was the fact that they were playing with the dolphin, teaching their young how to hunt,’ Mr Schimpf said.

‘The parents breached the water with the dolphins to show the baby how to kill and survive.

‘The male orca even managed to snare one of the dolphins and feed it to his young. The whole act lasted around half an hour – it was an unbelievable sight.’

Image Found Here

IMAGES: The image at right shows a female North Atlantic right whale giving birth. The bottom right image shows the mother lifting her calf out of the ocean to help it get its first breath.

Photographs showing a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale giving birth to her calf have been released. New England Aquarium researcher Monica Zani took the first ever photographs.

The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) remains threatened from ship strikes and commercial fishing gear. Documents have recently revealed that the White House was instrumental in delaying the protection of the critically endangered whales. According to the Boston Globe “efforts to protect the endangered right whale from being killed by commercial ships have languished for more than a year in part because of White House objections [and] documents show Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and White House economists have questioned the conclusions of marine scientists.” Too bad the Bush Administration nor their economists understand that natural resources must be conserved in order to maintain a sustainable world economy. Where is the conservative in conservatism? Liberals have grasped what it means to be conservative when protecting the environment better than the Bush Administration and many other conservatives have.

In more marine mammals news, scientists in New Zealand had the opportunity to necropsy a pygmy right whale after it was found dead and stranded “at Spirit’s Bay in the country’s far north.” The opportunity to conduct a necropsy of the specimen drew excitement amongst the marine mammal community since this is only the second specimen to be examined and little is known of this species so data is badly needed.

Pygmy right whales are the smallest of the baleen whales and are considered oddities. For exa