{"id":1239,"date":"2026-07-28T11:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:35:43","slug":"trump-administration-moves-to-open-american-samoas-waters-to-deep-sea-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1239","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Moves to Open American Samoa\u2019s Waters to Deep-Sea Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>Inside Climate News\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more She\u2019s Charged With Killing Her Twins. The Anti-Vaccine Movement Made Her a Martyr.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration<\/span> is moving closer to opening up US waters for deep-sea mining\u2014a contentious and largely untested industry focused on\u00a0extracting mineral-rich deposits\u00a0from the ocean floor containing cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, the Department of the Interior\u2019s newly created Marine Minerals Administration (MMA)\u00a0announced\u00a0a proposal to hold a lease sale for deep-sea mining activities in federal waters off the coast of American Samoa in the South Pacific. If the plans move forward, it would be the first deep-sea mining lease sale in the world. Interested deep-sea mining companies could bid for 20 years of mining rights across more than 31 million acres of American Samoa\u2019s outer continental shelf in an auction tentatively\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The announcement has drawn widespread criticism from environmental advocates and scientists who say any deep-sea mining activities, including preliminary exploratory activities,\u00a0could pose irreparable harm to the marine environment and the American Samoan people,\u00a0whose culture and livelihoods are deeply entwined with the ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPacific people have made our position clear: we do not want deep-sea mining in our waters,\u201d Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, founder of Finafinau, an environmental advocacy group in American Samoa, said in a press release. \u201cOur ocean is our home, our food, our culture, and our future, and we are calling on the Administration to stop this reckless lease sale before irreversible harm is done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal marks the latest step in the Trump administration\u2019s push to pave the way for deep-sea mining in the US and abroad. Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order\u00a0last April\u00a0directing federal agencies to fast-track the issuance of seabed mining permits, the government has sought to position the US as a leader of the emerging industry, despite global opposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporters of deep-sea mining say critical minerals found on the seafloor may be eventually used to manufacture green technologies and military defense systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical minerals have become a strategic asset in global competition, and China\u2019s dominance in the supply of many of these materials creates unacceptable risks for America\u2019s energy, defense and manufacturing sectors,\u201d said Matt Giacona, acting director of the Marine Minerals Administration,\u00a0in a statement about the latest proposed lease sale.\u00a0\u201cAdvancing this notice is an important step toward building a secure domestic critical minerals supply chain, strengthening US economic and national security, and ensuring America can compete and win in the 21st century.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But deep-sea mining has not yet been conducted at a commercial scale anywhere in the world. There are still no formalized regulations to govern the industry in the US or globally.<\/p>\n

In fact,\u00a0global delegates are gathering\u00a0this month in Kingston, Jamaica, at the International Seabed Authority to continue negotiating a long-debated Mining Code that would regulate activities related to extracting deep-sea minerals, including prospecting, exploration, and commercial exploitation in international waters.<\/p>\n

Forging ahead without such regulations in place and paving the way for future mining near American Samoa will inevitably result in harm to critical marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them, said Taryn Kiekow Heimer, a senior attorney and director for ocean energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt is an incredibly reckless and destructive move to deep seabed mine in this area,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement to Inside Climate News,<\/em> the MMA wrote that \u201cplans will not be approved before completion of additional technical and environmental reviews to ensure that the activities described will be carried out in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directly adjacent to the proposed lease area is the\u00a0Rose Atoll, a national wildlife refuge and marine national monument that was established by President George W. Bush\u00a0in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more It Looks Like Sen. Bill Cassidy Is Hurting Public Health Again<\/a><\/p>\n

For generations, the remote coral atoll served as a waypoint for Polynesian navigators, and it is still highly revered amongst Indigenous peoples in the Pacific as part of their cultural heritage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From an ecological standpoint, this atoll is extremely important, said Alan Friedlander, an affiliate researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, based at the University of Hawaii, who conducted a survey of the area with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in the early 2000s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the last largely intact marine ecosystems that we have under US jurisdiction,\u201d Friedlander said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its remote location and protected status have allowed its colorful reefs to flourish even as others around the world\u00a0suffer from global warming and threats\u00a0like overfishing, dredging, and pollution. The corals are largely nourished by nutrients deposited by thousands of seabirds that nest on the remote atoll\u2019s two islands. Sharks and other apex predators are abundant in surrounding waters, as are giant clams, which are now scarce throughout much of the Pacific due to overharvesting. Migrating humpbacks pass by the atoll, and critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles also nest on its shores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Activities associated with deep-sea mining would likely disrupt this precious interconnected ecosystem, Friedlander said. That includes everything from increased shipping traffic and underwater noise to sediment plumes generated by some of the machinery that is needed to extract mineral deposits from the seabed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably should take the precautionary approach to this, and try to understand this complex ecosystem better before we go into activities that potentially have pretty long-term deleterious effects,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are still several steps that must be completed before the Marine Minerals Administration finalizes the decision to hold a mining lease sale, including the publication of a final leasing notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIssuance of the notice does not guarantee that a lease sale will be held, nor does it guarantee that any exploration or collection activities will occur should MMA move forward with a sale,\u201d\u00a0officials said in a public statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

American Samoa\u2019s governor, Pula\u2019ali\u2019i Nikolao Pula, has 60 days to review and comment on the proposed leasing notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor does have a chance to object during these next 60 days,\u201d said Kiekow Heimer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\u00a0\u00a0his constituents to share their thoughts on deep-sea mining and any recommendations they have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for our community to provide informed input,\u201d Gov. Pula said in a statement. \u201cI remain steadfast in my position that any such development must be fully transparent, responsible, science-based, and carefully managed to protect our environment, safeguard our vital tuna fisheries and cultural heritage, and deliver meaningful, tangible benefits for the people of American Samoa.\u201d<\/p>

Read more It Took a Decade, Two Sniffer Dogs, and a Lot of Mud to Protect This Orchid<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal proposal could auction off 31 million acres of ocean floor near a protected coral atoll\u2014before anyone knows the environmental cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Administration Moves to Open American Samoa\u2019s Waters to Deep-Sea Mining - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1239\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Administration Moves to Open American Samoa\u2019s Waters to Deep-Sea Mining - 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