Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0449.039 2000-2002 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 01 1-09-02 t_ _ - xe: Resolution to prevent deployment o~US` av~y S TASS LFA Sonar system Hello. As A. IP,ADI I)ivegnaster I thoroughly appreciate your initiative to halt deployment or the Navy I,FA Soz~.r systeata. Divers here iaa California heard and felt the ei6Fects of Navy i,FA testing duxi~ng 1994 and 1995. It is e~ctlremely dis4~acting and actually causcs our lutags to vibrate while diving! If you can prevent the Navy from deployix~ around the Jf~aw Islands, I will be over in a heartbeat to exajoy some safe diving. (3tkterwise, I will be forced to abaxtdon my favorite activity, as the Navy will be allowed to roam tlae planct at a range of just 13 miles froyn shore and "Known, dive sites." Good luck with youir initiative, and I arra g sommc corxanuraications I have made recently. Nlahalo, Jay R. Muxxay jaymuaxay2@aoLcoYn $31.659.4729 Corm, N~ - File Ido. ktef. I.~ate 01101!2002 22:40 8316594729 JAV MLIRRAY PAGE 02 1-9-a2 re: Navy Takes Blame for beac~~d ;4 '''~fl~zal~ ~1-2-02 In The flez~ald article on 1-2-02. " t~ bl~xa~ r ~eached whales" it was reported that a mass stranding and death o cr~~ species `ofw~ales was directly linked to high intensity Navy Soxa~ transxoissiozas. I am a: FADI Divemaster who worked for a local SCUBA dzvi~ag estabDaslatneaxt between 1994 and 1997. 1 was the I3ivenaaster in charge of diver safety during the Aquarius Dive Shops "Chocolate Abalone Dive" in 1995, atad used to tape paying eustomers on underwater tours of our y fabulous dive sites. ~egirax~ing in ~xiid July 1994,1 atad many other divers were impacted by e~tregnely unusual low frequency sounds when diving in and arouzad the Monterey area. These sounds avere so different from the asorm~l sounds we had always heard when diving, il created a rsatio~l "rnedaa. fresazy" that included poany articles in print and several TV news reports, includitag CNN. Not only could we hear these obviously ranade sounds, but our lutags v`brated noticeably with each pulse o£ sound! This is very disconcerting when subzmerged, and is very dastractirag to say the lased. My first of naaxiy exposwres was on August 25, 1994 on a dive at Point Lobos State lark. while I had ' " to suspieioras it was some form of new Navy So~xar systeua, it took quite awhile to get enough infortuation to say I am now certain that these sounds were being produced ley a vessel contracted by the Navy to perform the l~Iagellan 2 Sea Trials just northwest of San. Francisco in the Pacific. The vessel Cory Chouest had already perfortr~d the !Heard Island Feasibility Test iza the Southern Indian Ocean in 1991. That test transrrai4ted a high power, low frequency 571:Iz tone all the way froala the Indian Ocean to receivers deployed in Monterey Bay by a local research institution. A,~er returztg and outfittixag the Cory Chouest with "the highest power, lowest frequency active Sonar system" ever built, the Cory Chouest began the Magellan 2 Sea Trials irn mid July 1994 and continued through September 1994. While there is a rcnass of evidence the Cory Cbouest was respozasible for the reported diver pxnpacts dwring 1994, the Navy has steadfastly refused to take responsibility for that igacident. That brings anc to 2 glaring errors in the article '°Navy takes blame for beached whales." First the article says "find it does nit answer the contentious question of whether rnariue wildlife naay also be izoperiled by a di~Ferent kind of sonaa~ TEST (my etxap9aasis) proposed by the- Navy, one that would iaxvoive much lower frequency soauxd waves in the ocean." fihat stateruent is false. The testing has already been cozxlpleted, the L3ra#1 and Final-EIS docuaner~ts released and the systean as about to be deployed off our coastline on a global scale. The Fitaal LFAS EIS states the Navy wants the right under "Alterative #1" to operate LFAS at a range of just over 13 ~xailes from shore, That is over 10 times closer than, when divers were impacted duriaag the Mager 2 Sea Trials. ley the way, the reason the test was called Magellan was it was the "souaad heard around flee world." I have y underwater recordings made ding Magellan a~ad durir~ the ATOC/ ez~perirnent, which i~VAS CONDUCTED on i~iozteer Seatnount instead of off Pt. Sur. g t11,e time ATOC was tra~.as~nitti~a$, our area experienced the nxost unusual reactions fx'oara sear we 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 03 . have ever seen. For instance, izx'~ A~'OC -EIS is says the transnxissioz~s znay impact seabirds, but only divitzg; b' a had tens of thousands of diving Common Murres washisag up on beaches ~ ' ~~c~ns~ shad Sea Lions crossitxg Hwy 1 and Dcl Monte Avenue for D~,l,.. (Possibly for an interpretation of these new sounds?) And we had 3 Dead Hunt ; {i~1~_ at tie `~alifornia ATOC site and one at the Hawaii -d 411 . 1 i t ATOC site upon first energ t~e tsat~triits:°=°,As for t~,1 have quit diving because the Navy has refused to adnmit they were responsible for what divers went through during Magellan 2. And they have said in the Final LFAS E1S that all my tapes that show divers poitxting, to their ears anal lungs have an "artifact"on them at 3 8I-Iz. So, if they refuse resporasfbility for Magellan and say my tapes are iccurate, they care say exactly the same thing if LIFAS is deployed and used as planned. The custom Navy Swath. vessels have already been built, and will be zxeax the horizon at 13 miles with the NMFS "small take" permit, and authorization to " at full power with "classified frequencies and waveforms." Obviously the transmissions aren't classified, and even if divers record the transmissions with their videocatneras and corns out of the water screatrling about lug vibration and disorietktataon, even if marine life starts stranding or dieing on our shores, the Navy can simply sail away and admit nothing the way the Final I,FAS E1S is wlCitteTp. So I ask you x11, if you care about the fixture of Earth's oceans and the lid therein, please write to Congressman'Farr or your Senator to ask for a b~ to deployment of this ilavasive plaa~etary scale low frecpuency Sonar system. `The N.M.F.S. could hated the Navy the "small `Take" permit any day. 1n my opinion, even though we are currently im a struggle against terrorism, we must not use mil'ztary technology that directly itnpaets humans or the innocent inhabitants o£ Earth's oceatls to supposedly further our "Natiotaal Security." Naval Sonar only works out to a certaiua range that fluctuates due to currents, temperature and water dez~sxty. beyond that the Navy transmit vessel becortars the target. Sincerely, Jay R. Murray PADI Diverriaster #dru80669 369 El Camatxito Carmel Valley, CA 93924 831-659-4724 jaymutxay2@aol.com 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 04 - 7anuary 2, 2002 _ Congressax~an Sara Farr l n0 West A1isa1 ' Salizaas, CA 93901 i r ;rs+, T3ear Congresszr~an Farr: Happy New Year, and thanks £or the letter dated November 29, 2001. In that Ietter you suggest the successful opposition o£the Navy plans to dramatically increase use of Ft. Hurlter l,igget for practice bombing was in#luerrced bS' the "Thousands of concertted citizens of our global cornrTlunity" who wrote letters to you in opposition to the Navy plans. And that the succCSSfuI opposition should be "aIl the sweeter because it dernorxstrates that your letters helped change the outcome of events." Since I provided written coax?naents regarding the proposal, and they opposed the hacrease in noise that the overll%ghts would create, as you did,1 am glad we won that one. But.... As you know, begin~og in August 1994 SCU$A divers were impacted by Navy testing of the Low Frequency Active Sonar system (L)EAS) durusg the Magellan 2 Sea Trials, There is irrefutable evidence that not only I, but zx~any other divers were inipactcd by these radically new sounds. CNN broadcast these events worldwide and there are many copies of those ~aewscasts in may hands. All the local stations also ran the story, as did i°iard Copy. In the CNN footage Professor Jirxl Miller' front our local Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) clearly stated in print and on TV that these new sounds that I had silccess£ully recorded were not a natural sound azAd certainly ztaannoadc. His written comments in. the local paper suggested 3 possibilities. l?ither it was Naval operations beyond. the horizon, oceanographic research or oil and gas exploration. In other woxds, sounds designed to travel great distances. Not a by-product o£comYnerce such as surface emitted shipping none. There was never a suggestion at that time that my data was not accurate. In £act, Professor Miller made 25 copies ofmy tape and used it irr sorrre form of exam for his students. When CNN filmed mte at the NPS ozt October 1, 1994, the computer operator was asking me i£ I heard the sound when he played it on the cozrrputer. The speakers he was using under direct supervision of Professor Miller were the standard tiny computer speakers. I knew right then they were trying to cover up the situation since the very low frequency of the transmissions could never be reproduced by the small speakers. So then 1 asked them i~f they could "Miter out the background noise?'° They said they couldn't. The cover-up was obvious. DuriAag late 1994 and 1995,1 was ensoni£ted repeatedly and Heide several tapes of the offending transmissions with di~ere~ut recording equipx$aent before sated a41er that thxae. They were reviewed by MHA1tI scientists aid were never questioned as being accurate. In fact, when 1 would be at sea recording the transmissions, I would call M~ARI directly to coz~nq the exact frequencies I was recording, since they have a hydrophone directly in front of the Monterey 13ay Aquariuaxr. I would say, " I'm seeing S 1IIz Continuous Wave (CW), do you see that?" And I would always be correct. I will subpoena. these individuals to confirm my teclaoiques mad the accuracy of rrry data when 1 go to court on this matter. 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 05 I then had a mieeting with y early January regarding the problem. Your exact words were, „Jay, you're gett~~a~ a~r~tim~ i Everybody's tall~~,g about you in the elevators in Washington." And I said "Well that's ~ great Sane, They shouldn't be tallcing about me in the elevators, ~ ~~ould ~~ll~,ing about what I'rra concerned about on the floor." You then asked rrae"G~o~ ` a cover-up going on. I reluctantly said yes, since it had been obvious from the begsnni~ag, and it was only getting worse. In fact, on the evenixxg we met, the public meeting in Santa Cruz xegardi~ the deployment of the controversial ATOC experrnaent took place. Dua`itt~g that meeting I was approached by the "acoustics gan$" from the Applied Physics Lab at U.W. and Scripps people. They suggested my tapes showed "wave noise". Which I said was true. It is called "pulsed continuous wave with random repetition intervals with a cemer fi°equency of 38Hz." Never at any time prior to the release of the Final LF,A,S EIS dad a single scientist from 1vfBARI or elsewhere suggest that my tapes had a false sound or "artifact" at 38F~Iz on. these. But unfortunately, the Nagy Final LFAS FIS says exactly that. That my tapes show an artifact at 38Igz due to "electromechanical s That is false atad impossible. I have wxitten letters to President Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft and EPA Director Whitman informing them 1 will be filing a lawsuit if the Navy is allowed to deploy LFAS under their Preferred Altezxsative #I. That will allow the Navy to approach the coastline at a range of 13 miles and transmit full power with "classitfZed frequencies and waveforms." Thosc vvavef'ornss would be those other than those publicly used in Phases I - 3 LFAS testing. (100 - SOOkIz) That could include frequencies below 100Hz since the Cory Chouest test vessel had abceady successfully conducted the 1Heaxd Island Feasibility Test usuag a 57Hz CW tone to transmit frorn the southern Indian Ocean to Monterey. The Cory Chouest was then allowed to perform the Magellaxx 2 Sea Trials just northwest of San Francisco between June 21 and September 30, 1994• Those transmissions coiuacided with. the SCUBA diver disruption in the Monterey/Carraael area. Operators from the Cory l;ttouest directly contacted both the California Coastal Cununission (CCC) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NIZDC) to tell them the sounds and lutng vibration SCUBA divers weze reporting was coming from the Cory Chouest transmissions. When, on July 4, 20b0 I asked you when you going to inform your constituents about the impending deployment o£the Navy LFAS system ohFour coastline you said, "Jay, this isn't your area of expertise is it?!" Anal you turned your back on me. Remember when our fathers were in the hospital, (I'm sorry about your father passing away, mine is still hanging in there)1 oflFered you a photograph of Comet Hale Bopp over the Lone Cypress Tree. You said you couldn't take gifts from constituents, but you could if we were personal friends. I hope you and your daughter enjoy the photos. The reason I asked you about inform~g your constituents about LFAS BEFORE the Carmel Town Meetinig was I wanted to do it privately, as a friend would, to give you a chance to respond to the privately, which you did, But I must say I have had zny techniques, equipment, tapes and results scrutitaized by the best acousticians in the world and I passed their tests. Basically this stuff isn't rocket science. 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 06 . - Mere is what I suggest. S ~ s d Foy TV were prevented from using my vidwtape to produce a rrlovie a ut't~hb divefsruption in Monterey which would have alerted the general pub~.~~o the negative impacts LFA Sonar produces, (cover-up!) I respectfully ask yo4i~~i~no ~~-i~aform Your constituents as soon as poss~le about the impex~dirng deployment. It is suppo~~d to take place around the first of 2002. The recent letter in which you said public opposition from the global community was helpful in stopping the increased noise intrusion into the Big Sur area would lead me to believe your interests are in keeping noise pollution under control. The letter to former Defense Secretary Cohen that you sighed along with many of your colleagues also shows you arc opposed to LFAS. If the Navy LEAS systemm is allowed to operate just 13 rrfles from shore and "known dive sights" there wdI be immediate and drastic impacts to SCUBA divers as well as marine life. Retnembex, the Navy was AT LEAST 150 miles from Monterey during the 1994 fiasco. Now they waxxt to transmit at a range over ten times closer than that! As I said, NOT ROCKET SCIE)tTCE. Amd I must point out that if the system is deployed, I will be filling a lawsuit in Federal Court as soon as possible. I will be subpoenaing everyone involved in my battle. My many letters az~d contacts to you regarding my opposition to LFAS is certainly germane to the issue, and you can be sure I will want you to testify to my efforts. Personalty I believe it would be politically very beneficial if you inforzxa. your constituents and allow tkaem to flood the Navy with letters of protest as thcy dcsexve the right to comment on the drastic increase in noise the Navy will be responsible fox if they use LFAS technology- Just as we all had the right to protest the Navy plans tovacrease training flzghts over Big Sur. Also, there might be a negative reaction item your constituextts if they aren't informed about the Navy LFAS deployment as they were about the Navy overflights of Big Sur. The area impacted by the overflights would be minuscule compared to ties area impacted by the LFAS program. The impacts on all forms of rnarciune life should be addressed, not just a few spccics. When the Navy was transmitting off California in 1994, I went on a trip to Fiji with several other divers from Monterey. T cozxu~ented before I left Monterey that if we go to Fiji and hear the LIaA5 transmissions I was going to S--t! Sure enough, we could hear it, and I recorded it in Fiji! When I returned I made a "power spectrum overlay with the Fiji 38II~. pulses coraapared to the Monterey 38Hz pulses and showed it to several MBARI scientists. They didn't even flinch. That' said, "Jay that's why it's called t1?e Magellan Sea `Trials. It's the sound heard around the world." I have seztt letters informing our leaders I will be filling a lawsuit ifLFAS is deployed. My letters were forwarded to the Navy, with the result I received two letters from a Cozmxu~nder F. J. Diemex. In the second letter he suggested the Navy would give Saxe a private information briefintg about LFAS deployment and their conclusions in the LFAS >?1S. I responded in print to Commander Diemer that I would meet the Navy at the NPS for our meeting. My letter was returned "Addressee Unknown." (copies included) I then called Gordon England's office tat BVashittgton to find out why the letter to Cozx~xx'ander Diexner was returncd. The Gordon England's secretary told rrte there is no Coa~nmander F.J. 1Diemer, lsIead Undersea Surveillance. What's up with that?! I would like to give the 01/01/2002 22:40 8316594729 JAY MURRAY PAGE 07 Navy a chance to e`er, ~.y ~estions before i make them do it in front of a Judge. If you can be instrumc ta1~P"~~:~g upts~cl~ aeticag I would be very appreciative. It would be great if you co ~ attezld the meeting as well, as it would afford you a chance to force a better opiuaxvn ~ ' ~ a~y~~o~led~e of ocean acoustics and listen to the Navy ansvc~ers to my questions. ~ ~s4io~'s l~er;`~!the Victorious, Able, Effective and Loyal already buikt and outfitted with LFAS7°' Basically, if the Navy can't beat me, they can't deploy the system in rnry opinion. Thacal~s for your consideration of my comments and requests. I will await your response. If the Navy deploys LFAS without a direct response froc~n your ol~ce, I will be forced to proceed with litigation. Respectfully Yours, Jay R. Murray PADI Divemaster 80669 3691E1 Caminito Garrtlel Valley, CA 93924 831-659-4729