Navy plans years of additional sonar training along West Coast, studies impacts on whales

THE NAVY AND COAST GUARD want to continue training with sonar and explosives off the Northern California coast into the 2030s, activities the military’s environmental review predicts will disturb migrating whales and cause thousands of cases of temporary hearing loss. The public has until Oct. 19 to weigh in.

The two services released a draft environmental study Sept. 4 of what the Navy calls Northwest Training and Testing. It covers offshore waters from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Northern California, the inland waters of Puget Sound and a canal near Ketchikan, Alaska. It’s the second update to a study first issued in 2015.