U.S. rules would allow ‘seismic air guns’ in search for offshore oil, gas
Source: Washington Post
The federal government proposed rules Thursday that would allow the use of seismic air guns and other methods of exploring the ocean floor off a huge swath of the southeastern United States for the first time in decades.
The move is seen as a step toward a possible battle over offshore drilling for oil and gas there in the latter part of the decade or beyond.
Nine companies have applied for permits to use the loud devices to determine how much fossil fuel lies beneath the water in a 330,000-square-mile area from the mouth of Delaware Bay to just south of Cape Canaveral, Fla., according to Tommy P. Beaudreau, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which issued Thursdays environmental impact statement.
Conservationists have questioned the need to explore for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean and contend that blasts from the air guns harm marine life.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-rules-would-allow-seismic-air-guns-in-search-for-offshore-oil-gas/2014/02/27/68533a0c-9ffb-11e3-a050-dc3322a94fa7_story.html
Javaman
(62,534 posts)"nobody expected this!"
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)You can bet on it.
SamKnause
(13,114 posts)I wonder if the Obama administration will side with the big oil companies ?
I think we all know the answer.
4dsc
(5,787 posts)so what is a society to do? We need to keep finding oil because there is no alternative.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Those profiting from oil have made sure we will keep needing it.