He's the oil and gas President, not the environmental president.

[Divernan]

52. Oceana Says 730,000 jobs in blast zone at risk.

http://oceana.org/en/news-media/press-center/press-releases/obama-admin-clears-way-for-dynamite-like-blasts-to-search-for-oil-gas-off-east-coast-igno?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=seismic

The use of seismic airguns is the first step to expanding dirty and dangerous offshore drilling to the Atlantic Ocean, bringing us one step closer to another disaster like the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. During this process, our government will jeopardize the health of large numbers of dolphins and whales as well as commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism and coastal recreation – putting more than 730,000 jobs in the blast zone at risk.

According to the government’s own estimates, these dynamite-like blasts could injure and possibly kill up to 138,200 marine mammals, while disrupting the necessary activities of millions more. Impacts to marine mammals could include everything from temporary or permanent hearing loss, to disruption of vital behaviors like communicating, feeding, mating, calving and migrating, and masking of biologically important sounds.

The Obama administration has apparently learned nothing from the destruction that similar testing has caused off the coasts of Namibia, Australia and Madagascar, which resulted in declines in tuna catch, decreased productivity of the scallop fishery and melon-headed whales being scared into a shallow lagoon where they later died. They seem to be ignoring the voices of concern and opposition from more than 50 Members of Congress, over 100 scientists, 16 coastal towns, 78 local elected officials, 163 conservation and animal welfare organizations, and commercial and recreational fishing groups.

Seismic airguns create one of the loudest manmade sounds in the ocean, each 100,000 times more intense than what one would experience if standing near a jet engine. These dynamite-like blasts will occur every 10 seconds, for days to weeks at a time. They are loud enough to kill small organisms like fish eggs and larvae at close ranges and can disrupt the behavior of large animals like whales and dolphins from up to 100 miles away.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/18/1314891/-WTF-Obama-opens-East-Coast-to-oil-search

Impacts include temporary and permanent hearing loss, abandonment of habitat, disruption of mating and feeding, and even beach strandings and death. For whales and dolphins, which rely on their hearing to find food, communicate, and reproduce, being able to hear is a life or death matter.

Airgun blasts kill fish eggs and larvae and scare away fish from important habitats. Following seismic surveys catch rates of cod and haddock declined by 40 to 80 percent for thousands of miles.