The ocean is an acoustic world, so marine life like dolphins and whales rely on sound to communicate,

find mates, find food, and avoid predators.

In the waters of the Atlantic, there's a legal and political storm over the sounds underneath seismic testing to find oil and gas.

The prevailing scientific information is that seismic activity does not result in mortality or even serious injury, rather.

Prevailing science is it does not. I would acknowledge there are other sublethal energetic effects.

Well, here's the thing about seismic testing. It's so loud that it can be heard

a thousand miles away. And so it actually influences a huge section of ocean. And in the case of

the seismic proposal for the east coast of the United States,

we're looking at five vessels operating nearly simultaneously for a whole year.

The Trump administration has approved seismic testing along the Atlantic coast from Delaware to

mid-flora. Air guns dragged behind a vessel

emit sound waves every 10 seconds that penetrate the seabed. The reflected pulses create a map of the

oil and gas deposits below. I'm Ann Thompson, and this is NBC on Earth.

At a recent House Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing on the North Atlantic right whale,

South Carolina Congressman Joe Cunningham had an unusual request for the chair.

Mr. Chair, I'd ask for unanimous consent

to sound an air horn in committee. I'd like to give anyone an opportunity to leave if they would

find it bothersome. What was that disruptive, Mr. Oliver?

It was irritating, but I don't, I didn't find it particularly disruptive.

Well, about every, say, 10 seconds, like Sousen-Garragone blasting, goes on for days, weeks, months.

The congressman was trying to replicate the sound of seismic testing for the committee.

But had he truly replicated it, he would have had to blast the air horn every 10 seconds.

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