Los Angeles ? The Navy must follow environmental laws placing strict limits on sonar training that may harm whales, despite President Bush’s decision to exempt it, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The Navy is not “exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act” and a court injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote in a 36-page decision.

“We disagree with the judge’s decision,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. “We believe the orders are legal and appropriate.”

The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from a preliminary injunction creating the no-sonar zone. The Navy’s attorneys argued in court last week that he was within his legal rights.

Scientists have said that loud sonar can damage the brains and ears of marine mammals, and that it may mask the echoes some whales and dolphins listen for when they use their own natural sonar to locate food.

The Navy maintains that it already minimizes risks to marine life and has employed sonar for decades without seeing any whale injuries. The sonar is essential for tracking submarines, it said.