Trump administration approves seismic tests that could harm many thousands of Atlantic dolphins...
Source: The Washington Post
Trump administration approves seismic tests that could harm many thousands of Atlantic dolphins and whales
Federal officials are expected to grants permits that allow companies to possibly kill marine life as they search for oil and gas deposits.
By Darryl Fears November 30 at 11:55 AM
The Trump administration is preparing to take an important step toward future oil and natural gas drilling off the Atlantic shore, approving five requests from companies to conduct deafening seismic tests that could kill tens of thousands of dolphins, whales and other marine animals.
The planned Friday announcement by the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the Commerce Department, to issue “incidental take” permits allowing companies to harm wildlife is likely to further antagonize a dozen governors in states on the Eastern Seaboard who strongly oppose the administration’s proposal to expand federal oil and gas leases to the Atlantic. Federal leases could lead to exploratory drilling for the first time in more than half a century.
In addition to harming sea life, acoustic tests — in which boats tugging rods pressurized for sound emit jet engine-like booms 10 to 12 seconds apart for days and sometimes months — can disrupt thriving commercial fisheries. Governors, state lawmakers and attorneys general along the Atlantic coast say drilling threatens beach tourism that has flourished on the coast in the absence of oil production.
Seismic testing maps the ocean floor and estimates the whereabouts of oil and gas, but only exploratory drilling can confirm their presence. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that soiled the Gulf of Mexico resulted from an exploratory drill. Another gulf disaster that looms almost as large has spewed oil for more than 14 years. The Taylor Energy Co. spill of up to an estimated 700 barrels a day started when a hurricane ripped up production wells, and could continue for the rest of the century, according to the Interior Department.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/11/30/trump-administration-to-let-companies-run-deafening-seismic-tests-that-can-kill-marine-life-a-step-toward-oil-drilling-in-atlantic/
ORIGINAL OP
Trump administration to let companies run deafening seismic tests that can kill marine life, a step toward oil drilling in Atlantic
By Washington Post Staff November 30 at 11:46 AM
The planned Friday announcement by the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the Commerce Department, that it will issue the permits to five companies is likely to further antagonize a dozen governors in states on the Eastern Seaboard who strongly oppose the administration’s proposal to expand federal oil and gas leases to the Atlantic. Federal leases could lead to exploratory drilling for the first time in more than half a century.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
From the same link as the update, above
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