By Christopher Munsey  -  Gannett News Service

{Take a look at this site also:  Report: Ocean noise threatens dolphins, whales - Science - MSNBC.com  }

A site off the coast of Wallops Island is one of three possible locations proposed by the Navy to install an undersea warfare training range for the practice of active sonar skills.
A senior Navy official familiar with anti-submarine warfare at the Pentagon said at a recent news briefing that Atlantic Fleet Navy units need a place to practice ASW (anti-submarine warfare) before deploying. That's because of the threat posed by increasingly quiet diesel-electric submarines, often operating in shallow and noisy coastal waters, the official said.
Better technology means that the submarines are now so quiet that passive sonar -- listening for the noise created by the boats -- won't detect their presence until such a submarine is close enough to fire a torpedo, he said.
"You want to take them out before they get that close," he said.
The only sure way to find a quiet submarine lurking beneath the surface is active sonar, which sends a burst of sound, producing an echo when it bounces off an underwater target. The echo is then used to locate the quarry.
No matter how quiet, a submarine can't escape detection from a pulse of sound bouncing off its hull, the official said.
"As submarines get quieter, passive means are less effective. But submarine quieting has no effect on active means," he said.
Called the Undersea Warfare Training Range, the floor of a 500-square-mile section of ocean will be wired with a network of hydrophones.
Using practice torpedoes, helicopters, ships and submarines will use active sonar, sonobuoys and other methods to practice ASW against submarines posing as targets.
Navy officials developed three proposals for the range, all located in larger offshore coastal areas already used for Navy training. The preferred site is about 50 miles offshore, southeast of Cherry Point, N.C.
The area slopes down from more than 100 to about 900 feet deep, giving operators a wide range of depths to conduct ASW training, and different water temperatures, depending on whether training takes place in winter or summer.
The second site proposed is about 45 miles off the coast of Wallops Island, while the third is just off the coast of Jacksonville, Fla. "They are all equally compatible," said Jim Brantley, spokesman for fleet forces command in Norfolk, Va.
Brantley said the decision will not be made until October 2006.
"It's going to be a long process," he said.
The Navy will hold open house information sessions and public hearings in each of the three proposed sites this November.

Officials and experts will hold a public hearing at Chincoteague Community Center on Community Drive on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. An open house information session will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The meeting will allow the public to gather information on the Navy's possible plans for Wallops Island, including the onshore building that will receive signals transmitted from the sensors buried in the sand off the coast. The building, he said, will be constructed on federal property.
To operate the range, the Navy is seeking a letter of authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
A second Navy official at the briefing said that based on an environmental review of marine mammal species in the area, use of the range will have a negligible effect on sea life.
The officials spoke on background, on the condition that their names not be used.
Environmental concerns raised
The news briefing came a day after a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups in federal court in California.
The group's lawsuit charges that the Navy's use of active sonar violates federal environmental laws, seeks restrictions on where and when Navy units can use active sonar and asks for more environmental studies from the Navy about how active sonar impacts marine mammals.
According to the lawsuit, active sonar harms marine mammals, which use their keen hearing to locate prey, by interfering with their movements and feeding. The loud bursts of sound also cause physical injury, and have been a cause of marine mammals stranding themselves on beaches and dying, the suit alleges.
In its response to the lawsuit, the Navy emphasized that training and testing with active sonar is critical to national defense.
To reduce the impact on marine mammals, Navy watchstanders are trained to spot and identify marine mammals present in an area before a sonar exercise takes place, said Lt. William Marks, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
"Before we use sonar, we'll look for any marine mammals in the area," Marks said.
If mammals are present, sonar exercises will be curtailed or halted, he said.
Staff Writer Kim Mitchell contributed to this report.
Originally published November 8, 2005

Public hearings

The Navy will host three meetings during the comment period so that interested members of the public can learn about the project and the environmental impact statement and offer their comments. The format for these meetings will be open house information sessions in the afternoon and early evening, followed by a public hearing. Meetings are scheduled as follows: November 21, 2005 Wilson Center for the Arts Florida Community College, Jacksonville South Campus 11901 Beach Boulevard Jacksonville, FL 32246 904-646-2222 The afternoon open house public information session will be from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the evening open house will start at 6:30 p.m. The public hearing will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Comments should be submitted in writing to: Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic Attn: Keith Jenkins Code EV21 KJ 6506 Hampton Boulevard Norfolk, VA 23508-1278 Fax: 757-322-4894 All comments must be postmarked December 28, 2005, to ensure that they become part of the official record. All comments on the draft OEIS/EIS will be addressed in the final environmental impact statement.