The Trump administration is moving forward with allowing deep-sea mining in the waters near American Samoa, and legal efforts are already underway to block that effort.
For the first time, the federal government will lease out public areas for commercial deep-sea mining through lease sale auctions. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Marine Minerals Administration, formerly known as the Bureau of Energy Management, announced the lease sales on Monday. Two lease areas covering 31 million acres are available to bidders.
Manganese, nickel and copper are some of the rare and valuable minerals that can be extracted from the seabed.
“Critical minerals are no longer just commodities; they are a vital strategic asset in global competition, essential for reaching our energy efficiency goals, strengthening our national defense, and securing domestic supply chains,” said acting MMA Director Mike Olsen in a written statement.
There has been wide opposition to large-scale deep-sea mining. Critics say there are protections in place that the administration is bypassing, and the practice doesn’t have community approval.
“I think the first thing I'm concerned about is the overreach of agency authority when it comes to these first-of-any-kind leases,” said JV Langkilde, an attorney for Earthjustice. “And the first places we're looking at are the territories where the agency's authority is in question. I think that raises a lot of valid concerns by people on the ground, communities on the ground, and governments on the ground.”
Some are concerned about the potential environmental damage from large-scale deep-sea mining, especially as it's never been done before.
“There’s so much scientists still don’t know about life on the seafloor, but we’re certain that disruptions from mining can last for decades or centuries. We can’t afford to experiment with the sensitive ocean ecosystem,” said David Derrick, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
The auction is scheduled to take place on Nov. 19, though a lawsuit has already been filed in Hawaiʻi's district court to stop it.
Earthjustice is representing the plaintiffs Faleula o le Manu‘atele, Fa‘asao Amerika Samoa, and
Conservation Council for Hawai‘i.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue, “Operations can destroy nearly all life in their path, introduce toxic substances into the food web, smother ecosystems across broad swaths of ocean, and cause multiple harms to marine mammals, sea turtles, tunas, and other wildlife.”
That, in turn, can “threaten the health of marine ecosystems that feed Samoan households, protect shorelines, and form the basis of many Samoan cultural practices.”
MMA said in its news release that the lease sale doesn’t permit deep-sea mining right away, but allows “preliminary” activities like mapping.
It said it will “manage a multi-stage post-auction regulatory process before a company can begin physical exploration, testing, or full-scale commercial harvesting.”
