Stop oil and gas drillers’ cruelty to sea creatures | Editorial

Imagine what it would be like to live with blasts as loud as a rocket going off every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for several months.

That’s what sea mammals will endure if lawsuits from coastal states and environmental groups aren’t successful in stopping President Donald Trump’s reckless plans to allow off shore oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean.

Oil and gas companies use seismic air guns which blast air into the ocean floor to find deposits of oil or natural gas. The blasts are especially dangerous to whales and dolphins because can cause deafness. These animals rely on sound to communicate, navigate, and find food. If they can’t hear, they can’t navigate, and can’t eat. Environmentalists say thousands could die if seismic testing is allowed.

Studies also have found that the blasts lower the amount of zooplankton, essential to the food chain, not just for sea animals but eventually for humans. And, catch rates for fish also decline in areas where air guns are shooting, even when the blasts are as far as 20 miles away.

Fortunately, a handful of coastal states including New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and New York, as well as environmental groups are suing to stop this violent attack on marine animals and plants. Several members of Congress including Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D., N.J.) and Chris Smith (R., N.J.) have also sponsored legislation to stop it.

Beyond the danger to sea animals, seismic testing could harm the economy. In New Jersey, tourism along the coast is a $43 billion industry which provides 500,000 jobs a year; that surely will be impacted if dead animals start washing up on shore. The $7.9 billiion fishing industry produces more than 50,000 jobs.

Worse of all, seismic testing leads to oil and gas drilling when the nation is already too invested in fossil fuels. New Jersey has been successful in creating a buffer zone that discourages drilling, but that doesn’t preclude the seismic surveys. Instead of coddling the oil and gas industry, the Trump administration should be encouraging clean energy. In a report last year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said nations have only 12 years to slow down the negative effects of climate change.

The United States already is experiencing more frequent and intensely devastating floods in the East, droughts in the Midwest and fires in the West. The UN report says it will only get worse if no action is taken.

Our country lags in fighting the effects of global warming when it should be leading the charge.

The Trump administration’s own National Climate Assessment, released last year, noted that more people will die prematurely and suffer from respiratory ailments if climate change remains unaddressed. The president said he didn’t believe his own report.

The Trump administration is unlikely to pull its head out of the sand, which makes the courts and Congress the best hopes for stopping seismic blasting. Call your representatives and tell them to stop seismic testing before dead dolphins wash up on our beaches and local economies are destroyed.