VIDEO | Rep. Cunningham blows air horn at committee meeting to oppose seismic blasting

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCIV) — At a house committee meeting Thursday, South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham used an air horn to demonstrate how disruptive the noise of seismic airgun blasting would be to marine life.

He blew the air horn during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing examining the threats on the North Atlantic Right Whale.

Cunningham used an airhorn to demonstrate how loud seismic airgun blasting is, stating that the sound from a seismic airgun blast is 16,000 times louder, repeated every 10 seconds over a period of months.

Rep. Joe Cunningham pressed Trump Administration official Chris Oliver on the disruption to marine life caused by seismic airgun blasting.

“I’m a former ocean engineer, but it doesn’t take an expert to know that seismic airgun blasting is an incredibly disruptive process for marine life that depend on sound to communicate and navigate,” said Rep. Joe Cunningham. “Let me be perfectly clear, South Carolinians do not want offshore drilling off our coast, and we do not want its disruptive precursor, seismic airgun blasting.”

After the demonstration, Oliver agreed that the noise was impactful on marine species, however, added that "mitigation measures" would be put in place to minimize the proximity of airgun blasting activity with the right whale.

There is, "no evidence that these sounds and activities have ever killed or seriously injured marine mammals and the right whale."

Watch the full video below: