A new decision from the Obama administration has city leaders along Florida’s east coast concerned.

The White House is reopening the Eastern U.S. Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration.

Some leaders in Brevard County are worried about what it will mean for tourism, marine life and rockets.

Could sail boats one day be replaced with oil rigs off Brevard County’s coastline?

President Barack Obama gave approval Friday to use sonic cannons to detect oil and gas deposits underneath the ocean floor.

The Cape Canaveral City Council and Cocoa Beach City Commission approved resolutions earlier this year opposing the use of seismic airgun testing in the Atlantic.

“Found out it really wasn’t good, certainly not for tourism, but most important it’s not good for the animals that live deep in the ocean to hear every 12 or 14 seconds this seismic [blast] of noise that goes down,” said Cape Canaveral Mayor Rocky Randels.

Oil companies will be able send strong pulses of sound into the ocean every 10 seconds, trying to detect a good spot to eventually drill for oil or gas.

A study conducted by the federal government concluded that noise -- louder than a jet engine -- would impact more than 138,000 marine animals, including endangered whales and sea turtles. For that reason, many environmental supporters have an issue with the use of sonic cannons.

There’s an economic concern as well; not only tourists who don’t want to see oil rigs from our beaches, but also rocket companies looking to launch from our coast, says former astronaut and current U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.

“You can’t have oil rigs out in the ocean where you’re dropping the first stages of the military and commercial rockets that are coming out of the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,” Said Senator Nelson.

But some believe if America ever wants to wean itself off foreign oil, it’s going to have to start looking here.

"They should test and see where the oil and mineral rights are here around the United States. I mean they go to Iraq and places like that, so why can’t they do it right here?" Said Jim Congrove, visiting from Ohio. 

The oil industry says this exploration will mean new jobs.

But that’s not good enough for opponents, like Senator Bill Nelson, who plan to fight the president’s decision.