Suspicious sonar

The evidence is mounting that the Navy's proposed 660-square mile sonar training range off the coast of North Carolina would pose unacceptable environmental dangers.

There are also disturbing indications that the Navy's own environmental impact study is woefully inadequate. A chorus of scientists says the Navy needs to set higher standards for its research if the study is to have any scientific value.

Bill Flournoy, director of North Carolina's conservation incentives program, summed up the thinking of many environmentalists who commented on the draft report: "Critical steps seem to be omitted, prematurely dismissed or incompletely described. As a consequence, neither reviewers nor decision makers can have confidence in a finding based upon this draft."

A new report by the National Marine Fisheries Service also makes it clear the Navy's long insistence that sonar waves do not harm whales is also highly suspect.

Fisheries officials say they cannot prove conclusively that sonar signals from American and Japanese ships drove 150 deep-water whales into a dangerously shallow bay near Hawaii. But the report said scientists had found no other obvious explanation for the near environmental tragedy two years ago.

The Navy's desire to build a sonar range to train its people is understandable. But hard evidence is needed before officials can make decisions that will serve the needs of both the Navy and the ocean environment.

The Navy should make its best case based on competent science. Second-rate science serves neither national defense, sea life nor North Carolina. The Navy can, and must, do better.