Dear Friend,

Endangered right whales are swimming right into plans by the U.S. Navy to develop an Undersea Warfare Training Range 50 miles off the coast of Florida. Your help is needed to protect this prime whale calving ground.

Right whales, which can grow up to 59 feet long and weigh up to 100 tons, have been listed as an endangered species since 1973. But since then, their numbers have not significantly increased. Scientists believe only 300 to 400 right whales remain.

Warfare training exercises in the only known right whale calving grounds would jeopardize their survival. Some of the biggest causes of right whale deaths are ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. The Navy's training area will include underwater cables, high-speed ship maneuvers, aircraft and submarines.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has said that the "loss of even a single individual right whale may contribute to the extinction of the species." But despite this scientific evidence, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allowed the Navy to proceed.

Tell NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco that you want her agency to make decisions based on sound science and the law. Let her know that protecting right whales and other endangered species is important to you: http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/rightwhale_1009/nar77dminn?

— Earthjustice
Because the earth needs a good lawyer