U.S. plans widespread seismic testing of seafloor

[bananas]

Source: Associated Press

The U.S. government is planning to use sound blasting to conduct research on the ocean floor along most of the East Coast, using technology similar to that which led to a court battle by environmentalists in New Jersey.

The U.S. Geological Survey plans to map the outer limits of the continental shelf and study underwater landslides that would help predict where and when tsunamis might occur. But environmentalists say it could cause the same type of marine life damage they fought unsuccessfully to prevent this month off New Jersey.

“New Jersey’s marine life, fisheries and coastal economy can’t get a break,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, which led the battle to block a sound blasting research plan.

Although it involves the same basic technology, the new plan is much wider-ranging. It would begin near the U.S.-Canadian offshore border and extend as far south as Florida.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/27/world/science-health-world/u-s-plans-widespread-seismic-testing-seafloor/

[KeepItReal]

1. Not one mention of the real beneficiaries: Big Oil

Obama Paves Way For East Coast Offshore Oil Exploration With Controversial Sonic Cannons

U.S. oil and gas companies have been itching for decades to drill in the ocean off the Eastern Seaboard, where billions of barrels of oil are thought to be locked underground. But a longstanding moratorium has kept those coveted Atlantic Coast resources out of reach. Now, however, the Obama administration is clearing the way for what could be an offshore oil boom from Delaware down to Florida.

On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave oil companies permission to scan the ocean floor for oil and gas deposits using powerful sonic blasts – a technology that the government estimates could harm nearly 140,000 sea creatures, including endangered whales and sea turtles, the Associated Press first reported. The sonic scanning allows oil exploration firms to gather preliminary data as they prepare to apply for federal drilling leases in 2018.

...


Environmental groups and marine life experts denounced the Obama administration’s decision on Friday, arguing that the move not only presages increased greenhouse gas emissions, which will hasten global warming, but would create significant hazards for sea creatures that use sound to communicate across hundreds of miles. Most at risk are already endangered North Atlantic right whales, of which only 500 remain in the world.

“During this process, our government will jeopardize the health of large numbers of dolphins and whales as well as commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism and coastal recreation,” Claire Douglass, campaign director at Oceana, an international ocean conversation advocacy group, said in a statement. “With today’s decision, President Obama is bowing to pressure from Big Oil rather than listening to the thousands of voices calling on him to protect our natural resources and coastal economies.”

[modrepub]

6. PA Experience

There's just way too much money being dangled around for people not to drill for oil or gas. The energy companies are multibillion dollar industries. They can afford to pay off politicians, land owners (that own the mineral rights) and still make a hefty profit for their stock holders. They are like an ameba swallowing all and making everything part of them. At some point the oil/gas will run out and there will be a huge collapse.

I'm pessimistic about this only because I've seen this happen before, back in the 90s when my profs were going over global warming. I came to the conclusion that there was too much money on the table for the oil and gas companies to just walk away from it (without a fight). The only hope to stop this is for the true costs of these activities to be born by industry and for the alternative energy and conservation measures to become cheaper than burning fossil fuels.

[SamKnause]

2. I call bullshit.

The truth, this is for oil and gas exploration.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Long ways back when they considered the practicalities of mining methane hydrates

off the coast of NC they concluded it could destabilise the continenatal shelf.

[cynzke]

4. WARNING....YOU'RE

GOING TO NEED HIP BOOTS FOR THIS ONE!

[ladjf]

5. Greed, stupidity and ignorance, as usual. nt

[coffeenap]

7. Is there nothing we can just leave alone on this planet?

One patch of ground, one piece of sky, one ounce of ocean? I have so had it with us....

[Thespian2]

8. BO

the "great" leader for change, proves once again that the only changes he cares about are those benefitting his corporate owners. Let the BO lovers begin to praise this most inhumane decision.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Good bye whales.

[L0oniX]

10. The indifferent and careless killing of the Animal Nations as usual.

Dolphins and whales are mammals. If they were dogs and cats this shit wouldn't be allowed.

[Baclava]

11. Obama Opens Eastern Seaboard to Oil Exploration

The Obama administration is reopening the Eastern Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, approving seismic surveys using sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor.

The cannons create noise pollution in waters shared by whales, dolphins and turtles, sending sound waves many times louder than a jet engine reverberating through the deep every ten seconds for weeks at a time. Arguing that endangered species could be harmed was the environmental groups' best hope for extending a decades-old ban against drilling off the U.S. Atlantic coast.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management acknowledged that thousands of sea creatures will be harmed even as it approved opening the outer continental shelf from Delaware to Florida to exploration. Energy companies need the data as they prepare to apply for drilling leases in 2018, when current congressional limits expire.

The surveys also can map marine habitats and identify solid undersea flooring for wind energy turbines. But fossil fuel mostly funds this research, and corporations keep the data secret, disclosing it only to the government.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/ap-newsbreak-obama-opens-east-coast-oil-search-24617695

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Cthulhu is making them do it! The great demon god wants them to kill sperm whales

the mortal enemy of its chosen ones, the colossal squid that live on the ocean floor. Mark my words, this is Captain Ahab all over again. They won't be satisfied until every sperm whale is dead and we all bow down before our tentacled masters...

[Nihil]

13. What an environmentally-aware leader eh?

Might one suggest that Obama takes a nice deep swim in the water while these "tests" are going on?