November 8, 2017 — The U.S. Navy wants to resume deploying sonar and explosives around the Big Island and Maui where it cut back after a 2015 lawsuit.
The Navy is holding public hearings on each island this week on a draft environmental impact statement seeking permission from the National Marine Fisheries Service for increased military training activity in those areas and others over the next five years.
The final public hearing, the only one on the Big Island, is set for 4-8 p.m. Thursday at Waiakea High School in Hilo.
“This draft EIS/OEIS supports the Navy’s increased focus on live training to meet evolving surface warfare challenges,” the Navy states in the document. “This results in a proposed increase in levels of air-to-surface warfare activities and an increased reliance on the use of non-explosive and explosive rockets, missiles and bombs.”
It’s a given that the training is harmful to some marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. At issue is how much harm the mammals — many of them protected under the Endangered Species Act — will experience and what the Navy will do to reduce harm.
The draft EIS anticipates minimal harm from its training activities, saying only .03 percent of affected marine mammals will experience injury or death.
Read the full story at West Hawaii Today