CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Several South Carolina groups are suing the federal government after it approved five permits to start an early offshore drilling process called seismic testing.

Before drilling for oil and natural gas off the Atlantic coast could begin, surveyors would use seismic air guns to see what’s below the ocean floor.

“If you go to the extent where you’re trying to see deep into the Earth, you have to make a large sound,” said Dr. Paul Gayes, the executive director of the Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies at Coastal Carolina University.

CCU marine researchers use a similar method for underwater mapping of fish habitats or beach renourishment resources.

“The little device that tells you how deep the water is in your boat is using the exact same technique,” Dr. Gayes said. “It uses a particular frequency of sound. It goes down to the bottom. It comes back.”

Seismic air guns used to find oil and natural gas, however, are much more powerful.

“If you do that repetitively at depth, you start to see the structures below the sea floor,” said Dr. Gayes.

Environmental groups and 16 South Carolina municipalities, including North Myrtle Beach, Briarcliffe Acres and Pawleys Island say those pulses will harm animals underwater. They also claim it violates federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

That’s why they’re suing the Trump administration after the federal government opened up most of the Atlantic Ocean to potential offshore drilling.

“Our beaches, our businesses and our way of life are not for sale,” said South Carolina Democratic Congressman-elect Joe Cunningham, during a press conference in Charleston announcing the lawsuit Tuesday.

Dr. Gayes says prior testing hasn’t shown a lot of oil offshore.

“In the 70s and 80s, there was not found to be a very large resource in the Southeast, particularly off South Carolina,” he said.

Dr. Gayes also says offshore drilling may not be worth it, as intense weather events become more common.

“You’re seeing these kinds of changes in the coastal zone and those are tied to our energy policy,” he said. “They are.”

State Senator Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, has spoken in favor of seismic testing. He told the Associated Press the tests could lead to discovering natural gas reserves, which he says could create new industry on the Grand Strand.

Governors from both Carolinas are opposed to seismic testing.