Calif Coastal Commission Nixes Navy Offshore Explosives Training Plan

"SAN DIEGO — The California Coastal Commission on Friday rejected a Navy explosives and sonar training program off the Southern California coast that critics said could harm endangered blue whales and other sea life."

"Commissioners meeting in San Diego ruled unanimously that the Navy lacked enough information to back up its argument that the threat to marine mammals would be negligible.

The Navy is expected to ramp up its training in the waters over the next five years with the war in Afghanistan winding down and the military shifting its focus to the Pacific as part of the Obama administration's national security strategy."

Julie Watson reports for the Associate Press March 8, 2013.