Judge postpones U.S. Navy sonar tests

LOS ANGELES, July 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal judge in Los Angeles has granted an environmental group's petition to block the U.S. Navy from conducting sonar tests that could harm whales.

District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered the use of sonar stopped during ongoing international naval exercises off Hawaii until a July 18 hearing, and gave the Navy and the Natural Resources Defense Council until July 12 to meet and discuss a possible settlement.

Friday, the Department of Defense invoked a six-month national security exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but Cooper overturned that, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

In a seven-page ruling, she wrote the environmentalists had submitted "considerable convincing scientific evidence that the Navy's use of ... sonar can kill, injure and disturb many species, including marine mammals."

Navy scientists deny sonar hurts whales, while the National Marine Fisheries Service has said scientific evidence is mixed. It said, however, sonar used during a similar exercise in 2004 had likely caused 150 melon-headed whales to gather in a shallow bay.