need more of this, my new hero!
A Trump official said seismic air gun tests don’t hurt whales. So a congressman blasted him with an air horn.
A hearing on the threat seismic testing poses to North Atlantic right whales was plodding along Thursday when, seemingly out of nowhere, Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) pulled out an air horn and politely asked if he could blast it.
Before that moment at a Natural Resources subcommittee hearing, Cunningham had listened to a Trump administration official testify, over and over, that firing commercial air guns under water every 10 seconds in search of oil and gas deposits over a period of months would have next to no effect on the endangered animals, which use echolocation to communicate, feed, mate and keep track of their babies. It’s why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave five companies permission to conduct tests that could harm the whales last year, said the official, Chris Oliver, an assistant administrator for fisheries.
As committee members engaged in a predictable debate along typical party lines — Republicans in support of testing and President Trump’s energy agenda, Democrats against it — Cunningham reached for the air horn, put his finger on the button and turned to Oliver.
“It’s fair to say seismic air gun blasting is extremely loud and disruptive ... is that correct?” the congressman asked.
“I don’t know exactly how loud it is. I actually never experienced it myself,” Oliver replied.
So Cunningham gave Oliver a taste of the 120-decibel horn. An earsplitting sound filled the small committee room. An audience of about 50 gasped and murmured.
“Was that disruptive?” Cunningham asked.
“It was irritating, but I didn’t find it too disruptive,” Oliver said.
should do it every 10 seconds for a day, see how that works.
we got video!