A large group of US Congressmen has signed a letter to US President Barack Obama urging a cessation to the issuing of permits for seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean.
The 55 signatories to the letter contend that it is pointless to issue permits because in March this year the Department of Interior reversed an earlier decision and decided against allowing offshore oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic.
Prior to that reversal the Atlantic had been included as a potential drill zone as part of the government’s 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program.
With seismic testing very loud air guns are blasted under water several times per minute to generate readable echoes from the sea bottom.
It is used to get a better understanding of the reserve potential in an area under consideration for oil and gas exploration.
Environmental critics of seismic testing claim some scientific evidence shows that it can harm marine life.
