Whales take their case against Navy to court
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Big Island lawyer hopes to establish a ground-breaking legal precedent by having the federal courts recognize that ocean mammals have the right to file a lawsuit.
Lanny Sinkin, who recognizes his chances of prevailing are "very slim," filed a federal lawsuit yesterday on behalf of the "the cetacean community" to stop the Navy's use of a sonar system to detect possible enemy submarines. The suit is against President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
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Sinkin alleges that his clients are being harmed by the Navy's Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar. The system generates sounds that can be detected 300 miles away and the Navy contends it is critical in the detection of super-quiet submarines.
The lawsuit states that the Navy failed to conduct an environmental impact statement for the system during "threat and warfare conditions." As a result, the lawsuit said, whales and dolphins have been harmed and killed by the sonar system.
Before the lawsuit can proceed, however, Sinkin must convince a federal judge that the mammals have standing to file the action. Sinkin acknowledged that federal laws do not give animals standing, but said he is hoping U.S. District Judge David Ezra, who will handle the case, will be sympathetic to his cause.
"We feel that the (sonar system) threat to the whales, dolphins and porpoises is great enough and important enough that it's worth trying again," Sinkin said.
The U. S. attorney's office here declined comment.
