May 23, 2012 – The U.S. Navy is in the process of updating and recalibrating training of its Atlantic fleet, with activities planned for an area covering 2.6 million square nautical miles of the Western Atlantic, including the waters off New England, around Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
A key component of the process is the filing with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of a draft environmental impact statement that evaluates "the potential environmental effect associated with military readiness, training and research," the Navy wrote in the Federal Register notice last Friday.
Despite the possibility of testing futuristic weapons, the draft environmental impact statement filed with NOAA expresses confidence the training will have negligible impact.
"The Navy's proposed action is to conduct training and testing activities, which may include the use of active sonar and explosives, primarily within existing range complexes, operating areas and testing ranges along the East Coast of the U.S., the Gulf of Mexico, pier side locations, port transit channels and the lower Chesapeake Bay," G. L. Edwards, the Navy's director of environmental readiness wrote on May 7 to Peyton Robertson, NOAA's director of the Chesapeake Bay office.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.