Letter to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street NW
WashingtonDC20071.
Dear Sir or Madam:
We disagree with your September 5th editorial entitled “Debate over seismic air guns should wait until science has spoken.” There is ample scientific evidence now that seismic airguns do not injure whales or any other marine mammals—in the Atlantic or any other body of water. To quote the National Marine Fisheries Service:
“there is no evidence that serious injury, death, or stranding by marine mammals can occur from exposure to airgun pulses, even in the case of large airgun arrays.”
The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness presents a detailed discussion of the lack of harm from seismic in CRE’s White Paper on Regulation of Seismic in the Gulf of Mexico, http://www.thecre.com/forum13/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Macro-Marine-Sound.24_Jan_13.pdf .
Opposition to Atlantic seismic is based on bias against oil, not on science.
Finally, your editorial incorrectly states that “In the Gulf of Mexico, a lawsuit over the use of the guns was settled in June with an agreement delaying their use for 30 months while officials further investigate their effects.” In fact, the settlement expressly allows the use of seismic airguns in most of the Gulf of Mexico.
