The US supreme court has ruled the US navy can conduct sonar training exercises off southern California without restrictions, in a blow to environmentalists.
The court on Wednesday threw out a federal judge's injunction requiring the navy to take precautions during submarine-hunting exercises in order to prevent injury to whales and other marine mammals.
John Roberts, the court's chief justice, said that public interest favoured a well-equipped US navy and that an inadequately trained submarine force "jeopardises the safety of the fleet".
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other environmental groups had successfully sued the navy in federal courts earlier this year on grounds of possible damage and injury to the region's dolphins, whales and sea lions, along with more than 30 other species of marine mammals in the area. Al Jazeera