Animal welfare groups maintain mid-frequency sonar can disorient marine mammals with sometimes lethal results, while the White House argues the naval exercises are crucial to national security.

Training and other military preparedness exercises by the Navy, "including the use of mid-frequency active sonar ... are in the paramount interest of the United States," said Bush in a memorandum to the Defense Department.

Bush's allows the Navy to override a January 3 injunction issued by a US District Court in California requiring it to "monitor for and avoid marine mammals while operating high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar during ... naval exercises."

Bush's exemption has drawn strong criticism from animal groups who have been fighting for the injunction.

"There is absolutely no justification for this," said California Coastal Commissioner Sara Wan.

"Both the court and the Coastal Commission have said that the Navy can carry out its mission as well as protect the whales. This is a slap in the face to Californians who care about the oceans," she added.

The injunction Bush has waived required the Navy to maintain a 12 nautical mile (22 kilometers) no-sonar buffer zone along the California coastline, and to shut down sonar when marine mammals were spotted within 2,000 meters (yards).

Natural Resources Defense Council director Joel Reynolds said in a statement his group would soon appeal Bush's exemption, which he called "an attack on the rule of law."

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