U.S. sued over sonic search for resources that harms sea life

WASHINGTON — A coalition of environmental groups is suing the Trump administration for granting permits to seismicmapping companies that allow them to harass and harm marine animals while blasting deafening sounds under the Atlantic Ocean in search of oil and gas deposits.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a federal court in Charleston, S.C., claims that the National Marine Fisheries Services, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, violated several federal laws that protect animals when it issued “incidental take” permits to five companies that submitted applications to carry out the seismic surveys.

Every Eastern governor south of Maine has opposed the proposal, part of an offshore energy resource management plan.