Originally published on March 5, 2014
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The U.S. government last week approved the use of seismic air guns to search for natural oil and gas reserves in the Atlantic.
Environmental groups fear that the loud seismic blasts may seriously disrupt the lives of whales and dolphins, which rely on sound to find food. It is feared that their loud blasts, emitted once every 10 to 15 seconds, will cause marine animals to abandon their habitats.
"The Obama administration's decision could be a death sentence for many marine mammals, and needlessly turning the Atlantic Ocean into a blast zone," Jacqueline Savitz, vice president of Oceana, a liberal-leaning environmental organization, told the Wall Street Journal.
To probe the continental shelf for oil and gas deposits, seismic airguns send out blasts 100,000 times louder than a jet engine. The sounds that are reflected back from the ocean floor are used to construct a map of the what lies beneath the ocean floor.
Seismic airguns will be used in the Atlantic Ocean from Delaware Bay to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where 3.3 billion barrels of oil and 31.3 trillion cubic feet of gas are estimated to be in reserve. Nine companies have already applied to conduct seismic testing in the 330,000-square-mile area.
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