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US Navy Detonates 40,000-Pound Bomb Off Florida Coast
In addition to concerns about harm to sea life, progressives said the money would be better spent on healthcare and other human needs.
Jun 23, 2021
Marine mammal experts this week expressed deep concern over the potentially devastating effects of the U.S. Navy's recent detonation of 40,000 pounds of explosives off the Atlantic coast of Florida on sea life, while progressive observers blasted what they called the government's misplaced spending priorities.
"Some smaller species of marine mammals would be expected to die within one to two kilometers of the blast, and... [others] would suffer injury including hearing loss out to 10 kilometers."
--Michael Jasny, NRDC
The Navy set off the massive blast--which registered as a magnitude 3.9 earthquake on shore--on June 18 about 100 miles off Palm Coast as the first in a series of full ship shock trials on the USS Gerald R. Ford, a $12.8 billion nuclear-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 2017.
"The U.S. Navy conducts shock trials of new ship designs using live explosives to confirm that our warships can continue to meet demanding mission requirements under harsh conditions they might encounter in battle," the Navy explained in a press release.
The statement claimed the explosion occurred "within a narrow schedule that complies with environmental mitigation requirements, respecting known migration patterns of marine life in the test area."
The region is home to various marine mammal species including bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales, and North Atlantic right whales. While whales are not typically seen off the northern Florida coast in June, marine experts nevertheless expressed alarm over potential harm to mammals and other sea life.
"The Navy's own modeling indicates that some smaller species of marine mammals would be expected to die within one to two kilometers of the blast, and that some marine mammal species would suffer injury including hearing loss out to 10 kilometers of the blast," Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) Marine Mammal Protection Project, told The Guardian. "That gives some sense of the power of the explosives we are talking about."
"A large whale might need to be within a few hundred meters of the blast to die, while a small mammal could be a couple of kilometers away," added Jasny, who said that even if the animals survive the blast, potential hearing loss still poses a grave risk to species which use that sense to locate food and their companions.
The U.S. Navy has previously come under fire for its use of undersea sonar, which can injure and kill marine mammals. In 2015, the Navy agreed to limit its use of underwater sonar and explosives in particularly sensitive areas for scores of vulnerable species.
While numerous observers worried about the effects of blast testing on marine life, others expressed concerns about misplaced government priorities, with the advocacy group Public Citizen tweeting that "94% of public school teachers spend their own money on school supplies." Some social media users responded to CBS News' tweet about the explosion lamenting that the United States still does not have universal healthcare.
Janet Weil, an activist with the peace group CodePink and the Portland, Oregon branch of Extinction Rebellion, called the text a "waste of tax dollars and resources."
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Navy's Pacific Training Could Kill Hundreds of Dolphins, Threaten Recovery of Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals
Explosions, Sonar, Ship Strikes Will Menace Marine Life Near Hawaii, Southern California
Jun 25, 2018
The U.S. Navy has proposed training and testing exercises in the Pacific Ocean that could injure or kill thousands of marine mammals, including endangered whales and seals. The proposal would allow the Navy to harm marine mammals approximately 15 million times over five years.
That take, which the Navy today asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to authorize, could include seriously injuring 83 California long-beaked dolphins, three endangered blue whales and three Hawaiian monk seals, an endangered monk-seal population that has only recently begun to recover after heading toward extinction.
"The Navy doesn't need to blow up dolphins or blast whales with sonar to keep us safe. Sonar can injure and deafen whales who depend on hearing for their survival," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Hawaiian monk seals will pay a big price for the Navy's war games in its habitat."
The latest analysis shows the Navy exercises would cause approximately 15 million harmful incidents. Long-beaked common dolphins could be harmed more than 1.1 million times and blue whales 9,245 times over five years. Hawaiian monk seals could be harmed 916 times. The exercises could also seriously injure 18 humpback whales, 444 short-beaked common dolphins and 478 California sea lions.
Ocean mammals depend on hearing for navigation, feeding and reproduction. Scientists have linked military sonar and live-fire activities to mass whale beaching, exploded eardrums and even death. In 2004, during war games near Hawaii, the Navy's sonar was implicated in a mass stranding of up to 200 melon-headed whales in Hanalei Bay, Kauai.
The Navy and Fisheries Service estimate that, over the current plan's five-year period, training and testing activities will result in thousands of animals suffering permanent hearing loss, lung injuries or death. Millions of animals will be exposed to temporary injuries and disturbances, with many subjected to multiple harmful exposures.
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Will Turkey Hand Erdogan Authoritarian Rule With Referendum Vote?
Polls show the public is split ahead of historic vote, but the government's crackdown on dissent has silenced the opposition
Apr 14, 2017
Turkish citizens head to the polls on Sunday to vote on a historic referendum that could potentially cement autocratic rule in the nation, consolidating power for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
If the referendum passes, "it will abolish the office of prime minister, enabling the president to centralize all state bureaucracy under his control and also to appoint cabinet ministers," AFP reports. Erdogan would also "control the judiciary" and essentially "rule by decree," Foreign Policy in Focus columnist Conn Hallinan further noted.
There is little disagreement on how pivotal that change could be. AP observed that the vote "could change the course of [Turkey's] history," while AFP reported that referendum is being regarded "as a crossroads in the modern history of the country that will affect not just the shape of its political system but also its relations with the West."
The vote is taking place against the backdrop of a widespread crackdown on dissent, with tens of thousands of people arrested under the ongoing State of Emergency declared by Erdogan after last summer's failed coup attempt.
Recent polling has shown that the public is split. According to AFP, "A poll by the Konda group showed 'Yes' ahead at 51.5 percent but the Sonar group has projected a 'No' vote of 51.2 percent, and with other polling companies producing different figures the outcome remains uncertain."
But observers note that surveys could be misleading, given the climate of fear and repression. "[P]redictions cannot be trusted," Turkish author and activist Elif Shafak wrote Friday. "The truth is, many people in Turkey have two opinions: a public opinion and a private opinion. Out of fear, many citizens refuse to share their private opinions with pollsters."
On Thursday, four United Nations special rapporteurs criticized the Turkish government, issuing a statement warning that the security crackdown "had undermined the chance for informed debate on the referendum. They said a state of emergency imposed after the abortive putsch had been used to justify repressive measures that might well intensify if Erdogan's powers are enhanced," Reuters reported.
Hallinan also recently outlined how Erdogan has "stacked the deck" for the vote:
Using last summer's failed coup as a shield, he's declared a state of emergency, fired 130,000 government employees, jailed 45,000 people--including opposition members of parliament--and closed down 176 media outlets. The opposition Republican People's Party says it's been harassed by death threats from referendum supporters and arrests by the police.
Meanwhile he's deliberately picked fights with Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands to help whip up a storm of nationalism, and he charges that his opponents are "acting in concert with terrorists." Selahattin Demirtas, a member of parliament and co-chair of the Kurdish-dominated People's Democratic Party, the third largest political formation in Turkey, is under arrest and faces 143 years in prison. Over 70 Kurdish mayors are behind bars.
Erdogan's AKP government, Shafak further noted, "is supported by the far-right and Euro-skeptic MHP (the Nationalist Movement party). Together they form the largest bloc in the parliament."
"The opposition is fragmented, disorganized," she added, noting that it includes the secularist CHP (the Republican People's party), the Kurdish community, and Turkish conservative leader Meral Aksener.
"But the staunchest opponents of the AKP-MHP bloc are ordinary Turkish citizens," Shafak said: "Students, professionals, artists, minorities, and especially feminists. The women's movement in Turkey is going through a transformation and revival. This is not a coincidence. When societies slide into authoritarianism, ultranationalism and fanaticism, women have much more to lose than men. Women have been holding anti-AKP rallies. They organize campaigns on social media, writing hayir (no) with their bodies, urging everyone to hang purple cloth from their windows and balconies as a sign of support for gender equality."
If the referendum passes, the changes will take effect with the next general elections, which are slated for 2019.
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