Action Timeline

October 18, 2002 – The Center sued the National Science Foundation in an effort to put a halt to seismic research linked to whale mortalities in the Gulf of California.

October 30, 2002 – The Center won an injunction blocking deadly seismic surveys in the Gulf of California.

April 10, 2003 – The Centers reached a settlement agreement with the National Science Foundation requiring the agency to undertake environmental review and impose mitigation measures on all seismic research surveys it carries out.

May 16, 2007 – The Center and allies, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit challenging a U.S. Navy plan to use high-intensity sonar in Hawaii waters, including a humpback whale sanctuary.

August 15, 2007 – The Center won an injunction blocking offshore oil drilling off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that threatened bowhead whales, polar bears and other marine mammals.

February 29, 2008 – In response to the Center’s May 2007 suit, a federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting the U.S. Navy from continuing its high-intensity sonar use near Hawaii without undertaking further measures to protect marine mammals.

May 5, 2008 – The Center and allies filed a lawsuit to stop noisy oil and gas exploration planned for the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in Alaska.

July 8, 2008 – The Center filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior to protect polar bears and Pacific walrus from seismic surveys and other oil-industry activities in the Chukchi Sea.

February 10, 2011 – The Center, Gulf Restoration Network, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club filed a formal notice of intent to sue Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday for ignoring marine-mammal protection laws when approving offshore oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Our notice highlighted the effects on marine mammals of seismic exploration surveys used to search for oil.

June 14, 2011 – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to review the effects that intense, underwater seismic blasts caused by oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico have on whales and dolphins in the region.

January 26, 2012 – A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups, including the Center, sued the Fisheries Service for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions from ocean noise brought by Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.

May 10, 2013 – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling, finally announced that it would release an environmental impact statement analyzing the extent of the sufferings of whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico due to intense, underwater blasts from seismic surveys used in detecting oil in the area seabed.

June 20, 2013 – A coalition of conservation groups (the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club) announced a major settlement agreement with the Department of the Interior and oil and gas industry representatives, to protect whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico from high-intensity airgun surveys. 

September 26, 2013 – Ending a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center and allies, a federal court ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.