New Jersey environmental regulators are heading to court to try to block a plan to blast the ocean floor with sound waves.
The state Environmental Protection Department, environmentalists and fishing groups say the plan to do research with sound waves could harm or kill sea life, including whales and dolphins.
They are scheduled to make their case to a federal judge during a hearing in Trenton Tuesday.
The federal government last week issued a permit allowing marine animals to be disturbed as part of the research planned by Rutgers University, the University of Texas and the National Science Foundation.
They are researching sediments deposited on the ocean floor by changing global sea levels. The groups say they have made provisions to try to protect marine life during the proposed study.
