Obama-era policy reversed
The White House authorizes the use of seismic air guns to find oil and gas formations under the Atlantic.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Friday authorized use of seismic air guns to find oil and gas formations underneath the Atlantic Ocean floor, reversing Obama administration policies and drawing outrage from critics who say the practice can disturb or injure whales, sea turtles and other marine life.
The National Marine Fisheries Service said it has authorized permits under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for five companies to use air guns for seismic surveys in the mid-Atlantic, from Delaware to central Florida.
The surveys are part of President Donald Trump's bid to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic. The plan has drawn opposition from East Coast lawmakers and governors, who say it could hurt commercial fishing and tourism.
Seismic surveys have not been conducted in the region for at least 30 years.
Administration officials said that under terms of the law that protects marine life, the permits would allow “harassment” of whales and sea turtles but would not allow companies to kill them. Survey vessels will be required to have observers on board to listen and watch for marine life and alert operators if a protected species comes within a certain distance, officials said, and acoustic monitoring will be used to detect those swimming beneath the ocean surface.
Surveys will be shut down when certain sensitive species or groups are observed and penalties can be imposed for vessels that strike marine animals, officials said.
None of those precautions were enough for environmental groups and East Coast lawmakers who decried the surveys as cruel and unnecessary. The administration's call for offshore drilling has generated widespread, bipartisan opposition from states on the Atlantic seaboard.
“Seismic testing risks injuring and killing critically endangered species, severely disrupting economically important fisheries and threatening the Jersey shore,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat who is set to lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January.
Pallone called an environmentally sound coast critical to New Jersey's economy and said lawmakers from both parties “will work tirelessly to fight this reckless decision by the Trump administration.”
Diane Hoskins, campaign director at the environmental group Oceana, said approval of the seismic surveys “flies in the face of massive opposition to offshore drilling and exploration from over 90 percent of coastal municipalities in the proposed blast zone.”