MSM: Top US court rules for Navy in whale-sonar case

The US Navy can conduct sonar training exercises off the southern California coast without restrictions designed to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a defeat for environmentalists. In the most significant environmental case of its new term and its first ruling of the term, the high court threw out a federal judge’s injunction that had required the Navy to take precautions during submarine-hunting exercises.

Environmental groups brought the lawsuit and said the intense sound waves can harm or even kill 37 species of marine mammals, including sea lions and endangered blue whales, by interfering with their ability to navigate and communicate.