Proposed Navy Expansion Could Bring More Undersea Explosions to Washington Waters

The war on terrorism may not be openly fought here, but it increasingly will be practiced here. Under a new Navy plan, the waters of Puget Sound, Hood Canal, and the Washington coast will be used for more testing and training, officials say. The plan calls for deployment of more unmanned vehicles, including submersible and aerial weapons platforms, and an increase in war games off the coast, partly in a marine sanctuary.

In general, more stuff will get blown up and the use of sonar will be expanded, according to interviews and government documents. The public may not always be aware, since many of the exercises will be underwater. But fish are sure to notice.

"We're losing the Sound and now the Washington coast to the military on a month-by-month basis, and people are oblivious to it," warns Seattle activist Glen Milner, a longtime member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, which opposes the plans. "You're not going to realize this until a Navy or Coast Guard boat comes up to you and asks what you're doing in their waters."

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a watchdog group based in D.C., says it was already mulling a lawsuit against the Navy for not taking precautions with its existing underwater demolitions here—as many as 300 per year in Puget Sound, the group says, citing federal documents. According to the PEER study, the Navy frequently uses C-4 plastic explosives underwater as part of its training.

One explosive exercise, off the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, caused an extensive fish kill a few years back, says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, and the Navy's new plans pose a broader risk. "The Navy detonates in the shallow waters of the Sound and won't use bubble curtains to protect sea life," says Ruch, referring to an artificially created wall of bubbles that deadens sound and impact. "And so far they've refused to consider those alternatives."

More details of the plans should unfold in the next few weeks, starting with the release of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on the effects of closing off more waters around Navy facilities for training and weapons testing, a plan quietly in the works since 2003. The Navy will also begin holding public meetings on a new proposal to expand training operations principally in its range off the Washington coast, which will require another EIS.

The impact of both proposals would widen the military presence in a region already host to eight major installations, 55,000 military personnel, and more firepower than most free nations. The Navy alone owns 28,000 acres of land in the Puget Sound region, the service's third-largest fleet concentration in the world.

Navy officials say they have to "optimize" weapons use if tests and training are to be realistic and therefore beneficial; they think Western Washington is an ideal proving ground with its combination of inland sea and open ocean. Navy spokesperson Sheila Murray confirms that the coastal plan, at least, could mean more undersea and airborne explosions, including torpedoes and missiles, and bring more frequent use of sonar from Neah Bay to Ocean Shores. However, "We can't be specific," says Murray, "due to security reasons."

Without knowing what the Navy is really proposing to do, it's impossible to figure out how to mitigate the damage, says Fred Felleman, a Seattle marine consultant and photographer active in the campaign to protect sea animals. He worries in part about more frequent use of active sonar in inland and coastal waters that can be harmful to whales and other sea life.

"The new operations should require permits or at least a thorough review," Felleman says, "which is near impossible given the classified nature of the operations."

According to planning maps, the Navy hopes to lengthen its already sizable underwater test ranges in Hood Canal, around Keyport (a town located on the Kitsap Peninsula) in Puget Sound, and in the coastal waters north of Grays Harbor. The three areas are part of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Keyport, whose activities include the use of robotic, mini-sublike devices and sea-floor-crawling robots employed to detect and destroy mines and gather electronic information. Small, manned subs containing Navy SEALs teams may also be tested. On the Navy's drawing boards are even larger versions of such subs, using supercavitation (i.e., high-speed propulsion) and cruising beneath the open sea at 100 knots.

Navy maps indicate the range around Keyport could double in size, extending from Liberty Bay near Poulsbo to Bainbridge Island. In Hood Canal, the Dabob Bay range would be extended to twice its size, stretching from the floating bridge at the mouth of the canal south to near Lilliwaup, Mason County. Grays Harbor's Quinault Range would be greatly expanded, almost 50 miles into the Pacific along the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

The Quinault is located inside an even larger Navy ocean range, the Northwest Training Range Complex that reaches down to Northern California, where exercises sometimes involve carrier strike groups (aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, cruisers, submarines, and support ships).

Extending the inland and coastal ranges will allow the Navy to close larger portions of open waters to civilian watercraft when necessary. Currently, the Navy reports, the Quinault Range is closed up to 15 days while sections of Keyport and Hood Canal are closed up to 60 and 130 days, respectively.