Navy seeks sonar range in coastal Florida

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has decided to seek a controversial sonar training range off the coast of Florida rather than off the coast of North Carolina, officials said.

The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday that more than 40,000 pages of public comments -- most of them critical -- flooded in after the Navy announced coastal North Carolina as its preferred site for the range in 2005.

The newspaper reported that the newly proposed site off Jacksonville, Fla., could be just as controversial since the proposed 625-square-mile range would be near calving grounds of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Jene Nissen, environmental acoustics project manager for the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, said the critical habitat for right whales extends to about 20 miles off the coast of northern Florida, while the range's westernmost boundary would be 50 miles offshore.

"We believe we're far enough off that we're not going to have an adverse effect on right whales," Nissen said.

The Navy says the proposed range, which would cost an estimated $100 million, would be used 480 times a year, from one to six hours at a time.