President Bush’s attempt to make an exception for the Navy and allow it’s sonar training to continue despite environmental concerns came to a failure, as a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled on Monday that there is no immediate emergency, and therefore the Navy must submit to the protection law for whales and dolphins.

An early January decision had previously urged the Navy to limit the use of mid-frequency sonar within 12 miles of Southern California in order to reduce the negative impact on marine mammals. The Navy however expressed its position towards the decision by saying: “Despite the care the court took in crafting its order, we do not believe it struck the right balance between national security and environmental concerns.”

Almost 10 days later, President Bush issued an order to exempt the Navy from the environmental regulations “in support of worldwide operational and combat activities, which are essential to national security.” In Bush’s opinion, complying with such a law “would undermine the Navy’s ability to conduct realistic training exercises that are necessary to ensure the combat effectiveness of carrier and expeditionary strike groups.”

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of Los Angeles disagreed with the White House however, saying Bush had no authority to act against the National Environmental Policy Act, and that an intervention from the White House is only valid in case of emergency: “The Navy’s current ‘emergency’ is simply a creature of its own making … its failure to prepare adequate environmental documentation in a timely fashion.”

The National Environmental Policy Act instituted on January 3rd was meant to avoid the use of mid-frequency sonar within the migrating corridor the marine mammals used. Safety regulations clearly state the use of ear protection when using the sonar for humans, and so an environmental regulation was needed in order to protect the wildlife as well.