Save the whales, save our beaches, save the economy

In January 2005, according to Scientific American, 34 whales became stranded along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

The most likely cause: sonar testing by the U.S. Navy. The Navy admits sonar testing results in the deaths of marine mammals.

Energy companies searching for new undersea oil fields also use sonar testing.

Sonar testing sounds so benign. And according to James Benton, a spokesman for the New Jersey Petroleum Council, it is.

In the Daily Journal (Cumberland County, N.J.), he compared sonar testing to “to the sound of a sperm whale ‘echo locating’ for prey and to naturally occurring and other ocean sound sources.”

Here’s the reality.

To map underwater geological formations, sonar testing blasts compressed air onto the ocean floor at levels approaching 235 decibels.

The sound of a jet plane taking off is 140 decibels.

And if you’re as ignorant of auditory science as I was, those numbers are misleading. It takes, according to the Noise Help website, an increase of only 10 decibels for us to perceive a sound as twice as loud.

So a blast from an air cannon emits a sound many times greater than that of a jet engine.

The noise is so loud it’s believed that whales, which depend on their hearing for everything from finding food to keeping track of their young, beach themselves to escape it.

Subjecting whales and dolphins to such ear-splitting blasts is as wantonly cruel as anything I can imagine. (Yes, they have ears, internal ones adapted for listening underwater.) In humans, pain begins at 125 decibels.

One environmental advocate compared the sound to having a stick of dynamite going off in your living room every 10 seconds.

How long would you last?

The reason for this quick science lesson is that sonar testing may be coming to a coastline near you.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration approved oil drilling off the Eastern Seaboard, including the Virginia coast of Delmarva, even as it banned drilling in parts of Alaska.

At 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 18, the Sussex Progressive Community will host a dinner meeting at Fish On in Lewes titled, Not on My Coast, sponsored by the Assateague Coastal Trust.

The purpose is to encourage Delaware municipalities to sponsor resolutions opposing offshore sonar testing and drilling. (RSVP Joanne Cabry at sussexprogressives@gmail.com.)

I realize, of course, that it may be hard for some of my readers to take up this cause or attend a Progressive dinner, but remember: This testing and drilling was approved by Obama, so it’s OK for conservatives to be against it!

And not just for that reason, of course. (I hope.)

There is much at stake for the entire region for both ecological and economic reasons, which in the Cape Region are closely aligned anyway. There’s no reason Republicans and Democrats can’t be closely aligned too, on this issue.

Consider the devastating effects if we had an oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.

Tourism and the hundreds of businesses that depend on it could be destroyed. Property values would plummet.

No doubt we’ll be told the oil companies have learned from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This time will be different.

We should remember, however, that Exxon was preparing for global warming and how it would affect its operations even as it supported climate-change deniers. As far back as 1981!

(See LA Times, What Exxon knew about the Earth’s melting Arctic.)

And as luminaries such as Donald Rumsfeld and Jeb Bush have told us, “Stuff happens.” No matter how many guarantees we get, stuff happens.

Cape Region residents can fight the proposed testing and drilling to save the whales or for their own self-interest. Or both. But it’s a battle worth fighting.

Timely warning

Last week, Eric Burnley, the Cape Gazette’s ourdoors columnist, offered a reasoned approach to the gun issue.

As a hunter, he supports the Second Amendment, but he expressed reservations about everyone carrying a gun all the time.

Simple disagreements, he said, could escalate into shootings; even trained police officers, he noted, sometimes make mistakes.

Almost on cue, we had the weird story of a woman near Detroit who opened fire on a shoplifter in a Home Depot parking lot.

Is this behavior we want to encourage?

Imagine Gov. Jack Markell announcing, “In order to fight crime, I am ready to deploy a large force of untrained police officers. And while they are well-armed I want to assure Delawareans they will be accountable to no one.”

No politician would say that.

But that’s the likely practical effect of more people carrying guns.

People who never played golf wouldn’t dream of competing against the local club pro just because they own a set of clubs.

Unfortunately, some untrained citizens consider themselves competent law enforcement officers just because they own a firearm.


Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.