Appeals court clears way for new Navy range
ATLANTA – A federal appeals court Tuesday cleared the way for the Navy to build a $100 million undersea training range off Georgia and Florida.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents about a dozen conservation groups, had challenged the Navy’s plans, saying war games in that area would pose a risk to right whales, which migrate each winter to the coasts of Georgia and Florida to give birth to their calves. Experts say only about 400 of the whales remain, and each death brings the species a significant step closer to extinction.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday issued an opinion upholding a lower court ruling that said the Navy had appropriately studied whether the location of the range posed a risk to whales.
The conservationists sued in 2010, hoping to halt the Navy’s plans to install a web of cables on the ocean floor about 50 miles offshore to allow sailors from nearby bases in both Georgia and Florida to train with a mix of submarines, surface ships and aircraft.
BP executive defends actions during oil spill
NEW ORLEANS – A BP executive who led the company’s efforts to halt its massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico testified Tuesday that his decisions were guided by the principle that they shouldn’t do anything that could make the crisis even worse.
James Dupree, BP’s first witness for the second phase of a trial over the deadly disaster, said his teams worked simultaneously on several strategies for killing the well that blew out in April 2010.
Dupree said the company scrapped plans to employ a capping strategy in mid-May because the equipment wasn’t ready. He also said he was concerned that it could jeopardize other efforts.
“We were very intent not to make the situation worse,” said Dupree, who was promoted to BP’s regional president for the Gulf of Mexico after the spill was stopped.
Associated Press
