Washington governor slams potential harm Navy testing may have on orcas

The planned military exercises include testing torpedoes, firing projectiles at seven times the speed of sound, piloting mine-detecting undersea drones, deploying underwater sonar and exploding bombs up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) in waters from northern California to Alaska, including the outer coast of Washington state, The Seattle Times reported.

Democratic Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said in a letter earlier this month that the Navy needs a “more robust avoidance and mitigation strategy” for the program to protect marine mammals, particularly orcas, from harm caused by federal officials charged with protecting marine mammals and threatened wildlife.