Deep-sea mining plan off American Samoa draws criticism

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Trump administration is one step closer in its push to begin deep-sea mining in about 31 million acres of water off American Samoa.

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On Thursday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a proposed notice for two 20-year leases to carry out the practice in two portions of the Pacific Ocean’s floor. Each lease area has a bid of $3 million.

Critics argue the mining poses severe threats to marine ecosystems.

“Often, it involves scraping the ocean floor for minerals. This process directly impacts species that are living on the ocean floor, disturbing their habitat,” Nick Katkevich with the Center for Biological Diversity said. “I think it’s deeply concerning. There’s so many issues and concerns about the harms of deep sea mining.”

Katkevich also questioned whether the bureau will study any potentially irreversible impacts sufficiently.

“The environmental assessment carried out by the Trump administration, they themselves even admitted that this project’s going to impact marine species. It’s going to impact tuna stock,” Katkevich added.

Others, including Republican state Rep. Elijah Pierick, see the mining as a means to become less reliant on foreign materials needed for batteries and military programs.

“China shouldn’t be our main supplier of minerals like copper and cobalt and nickel,” Pierick argued. “It’s a delicate balance to steward our environment and our economy.”

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Katkevich is skeptical of where the valuable minerals will actually go, and is concerned they could be used for AI data centers sprouting up nationwide.

“The rapid buildout of data centers is very unpopular due to the environmental impacts, the impacts on water usage, and basically, these data centers need huge amounts of rare earth minerals in order to operate,” Katkevich explained.

Pierick believes impacts from the mining can be minimized.

“If national security necessitates having American resources come from areas that America stewards, that’s a value that we should hold while also holding the value of culture and the environment. We have to get a balance of both,” Pierick said.

Hawaii News Now reached out to the BOEM for comment and we are waiting to hear back.

The governor of American Samoa has 60 days to comment on the proposed lease before the process can continue.

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