Boeing asks government for permission to harass seals
Boeing has asked the U.S. government for permission to harass Pacific seals.
It's no joke. The defense contractor apparently intends to harass seals while dredging up 5,000 cubic yards of sediment from the bottom of a harbor near Vandenberg Air Force Base. Vandenberg is, of course, in an picturesque area of the California coast near Santa Barbara, and is also a National Wildlife Reserve.
Naturally you'll find lots of Pacific harbor seals, California sea lions, northern elephant seals, and, sometimes, northern fur seals, Guadalupe fur seals and Steller sea lions nearby.
Unfortunately for those hapless creatures, Boeing needs to do some unnamed harbor activity regarding its Delta IV rocket. Hence the scheduled harassment.
"On December 21, 2004, NMFS received an application from Boeing requesting an authorization for the harassment of small numbers of Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) incidental to harbor activities related to the Delta IV/EELV... Dredging will involve the use of heavy equipment, including a clamshell dredge, dredging crane, a small tug, dredging barge, dump trucks, and a skip loader...Dredge operations, from set-up to tear-down, would continue 24 hours a day for 3 to 5 weeks."
That's from a notice in the Federal Register placed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Comments about seal harassment can be sent by April 22 to PR1.020205E@noaa.gov.
Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan. 
