February 21, 2019 — In an effort to protect endangered whales, conservation groups today filed a motion to stop oil and gas companies from conducting seismic airgun exploration from Delaware to Florida.
“In my expert opinion, the introduction of seismic airgun surveys off the U.S. East Coast represents an existential threat to the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that is already in a dangerous state of decline,” Scott Kraus, vice-president and senior science adviser for the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in an expert declaration filed with the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is poised to issue permits to five oil and gas exploration companies, and seismic surveys could begin as early as March 30, according to the motion.
The plaintiffs want to halt “seismic airgun blasting” in the Atlantic until the merits of their claims are resolved in court, according to the motion.