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Federal appeals court rejects Navy sonar-use rules

FILE- In this Jan. 18, 2014 photo, an endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that had been tracking the whales. The orca is from the J pod, one of three groups of southern resident killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington state. The federal appeals court ruled Friday, July 15, 2016, that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar in the nation's oceans that could harm whales and other marine life. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations.(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE- In this Jan. 18, 2014 photo, an endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that had been tracking the whales. The orca is from the J pod, one of three groups of southern resident killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington state. The federal appeals court ruled Friday, July 15, 2016, that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar in the nation's oceans that could harm whales and other marine life. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations.(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) FILE- In this Jan. 18, 2014 photo, an endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that had been tracking the whales. The orca is from the J pod, one of three groups of southern resident killer whales that frequent the inland waters of Washington state. The federal appeals court ruled Friday, July 15, 2016, that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar in the nation's oceans that could harm whales and other marine life. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations.(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar in the nation’s oceans that could harm whales and other marine life.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations.

The five-year approval covered peacetime operations in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

The appellate panel sent the matter back to the lower court for further proceedings.

A message seeking comment from representatives of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu was not immediately returned.