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John Muir Institute of the Environment

Promotional poster for this event

Promotional poster for this event. Links to screen quality PDF (182 kb).

Legal Defender of Marine Mammals to Speak

Joel Reynolds will speak on "Lethal Sound: Submarines, Sonar, and the Death of Whales" at UC Davis on October 2. A 27-year veteran of environmental litigation, Reynolds is senior attorney and director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and an internationally recognized advocate for the protection of marine mammals and other marine species from human sources of noise pollution caused by the generation of high intensity sound.

High-intensity military sonar, which generates sound at levels in the range of 235 dB, has been proven to disturb, injure and even kill marine mammals. The Navy’s mid-frequency sonar devices are in widespread use and have been definitively connected to mass strandings of whales. The Navy’s Low Frequency Active Sonar, in the early stage of deployment around the world, carries for hundreds of miles.  Even 100 miles from the source sound levels can approach 160 decibels. During tests near Alaska, the Navy calculated sound levels of 140 decibels 300 miles from the source ship -- an intensity level approximately 100 times more intense than the noise aversion threshold for gray whales. In order to mount a legal defense against acoustic intrusion, Reynolds has tracked episodes of marine mammal strandings after sonar exercises for over a decade.

Beginning in 1994, Reynolds has filed a series of successful lawsuits to address the environmental consequences of U.S. Navy activities. Early this year the Pentagon declared the military’s mid-frequency sonar use exempt for two years from the basic law protecting whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. Soon thereafter, however, when the U.S. Navy proposed two-years of high intensity sonar training off the Southern California coast, he filed another lawsuit on NRDC’s behalf, this time joined by California Coastal Commission, to prevent the use of sonar near the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. In this most recent lawsuit, NRDC is joined by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cetacean Society International, League for Coastal Protection, Ocean Futures Society and Jean-Michel Cousteau. In all these cases, Reynolds’ goal has not been to ban the use of sonar in essential training exercises, but to require the Navy to minimize risks to whales and other marine species by implementing common sense protective measures, including avoiding their critical habitats. "No one, not even the United States military, is above the law," stated Reynolds.

Since joining NRDC in 1990, Reynolds has racked up victories in landmark cases, including legal protection in California and Baja California for the Pacific gray whale and the coastal California gnatcatcher. He ended decades of illegal sewage discharges into southern California coastal waters with a lawsuit to compel a $400 million upgrade of Los Angeles County’s sewage treatment plant. As co-director of a successful five-year campaign against Mitsubishi Corporation’s plan, he prevented the industrialization of the last undisturbed gray whale breeding lagoon on earth. He also prevented Exxon from conducting oil development activities and in a separate case, Scripps Institution of Oceanography from engaging in acoustic research. In 1998, Reynolds was appointed by the Secretary of the Navy to the Oceanographic Research Advisory Board. Reynolds has contributed opinion pieces to The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and has appeared on the CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN nightly news broadcasts.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment and the Environmental Law Society. The John Muir Institute of the Environment is a collaboration of UC Davis experts discovering solutions to complex environmental challenges. The Environmental Law Society is a forum for students at the UC Davis School of Law to explore their interest in environmental and natural resources issues.

The Details:

  • Who: Joel Reynolds, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
  • What: "Lethal Sound: Submarines, Sonar, and the Death of Whales"
  • Where: UC Davis, Buehler Alumni Center, AGR Room
  • When: October 2, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Additional Information:

Media Contacts:

  • Joel Reynolds, Natural Resources Defense Council, (310) 434-2300, jreynolds@nrdc.org
  • Sylvia Wright, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-7704, swright@ucdavis.edu