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Chinese deep-sea mining vehicle Pioneer II gets a test run in June 2024.<\/span>Shanghai Jiao Tong University\/Xinhua via ZUMA Press<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published by<\/em> Grist<\/a>\u00a0and is reproduced here as part of the<\/em>\u00a0Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration<\/em>.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/span> wants federal agencies to fast-track applications for deep-sea mining in an effort to make the United States a global leader in the nascent industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump issued an executive order Thursday declaring that US policy includes \u201ccreating a robust domestic supply chain for critical minerals derived from seabed resources to support economic growth, reindustrialization, and military preparedness.\u201d He described seabed mining as both an economic and national security imperative necessary to counter China.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur Nation must take immediate action to accelerate the responsible development of seabed mineral resources, quantify the Nation\u2019s endowment of seabed minerals, reinvigorate American leadership in associated extraction and processing technologies, and ensure secure supply chains for our defense, infrastructure, and energy sectors,\u201d the\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Increasingly, mining companies have been eager to scrape the ocean floor for\u00a0cobalt, manganese,\u00a0nickel\u00a0and other metals that could help make batteries for cellphones and electric cars. But scientists have warned that the process could irreparably alter the seabed, kill extremely rare sea creatures that haven\u2019t been named or studied, and\u2014depending on how the metals are carried up to the surface\u2014risk introducing metals into fisheries that many Pacific peoples rely upon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe deep ocean belongs to everyone, and protecting it is humanity\u2019s global duty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The order aims to jump-start the industry that has been spearheaded by small Pacific nations like Nauru seeking economic growth, but has been facing growing\u00a0pushback from Indigenous advocates<\/a>\u00a0who fear the lasting consequences of mining the deep sea.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis extraction has no thought in mind about caring for resources,\u201d said Solomon Kaho\u02bbohalahala, who is Native Hawaiian and has been a vocal critic of the potential seabed industry at the United Nations. On Thursday afternoon, he read the executive order while attending the\u00a0United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues<\/a>\u00a0in New York City, and said he was struck by the language emphasizing US dominance that echoed similar language in another\u00a0executive order issued last week<\/a>\u00a0opening up Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems that there\u2019s no vision for what we do in the long term,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t speak to how we\u2019re looking to take care of resources for the generations that are unborn. That\u2019s a very different perspective that I hold as an Indigenous person.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, Trump wants the Commerce Department and the Interior Department to come up with an expedited process for approving seabed mining applications over the next 60 days. The order coincides with mining companies expressing interest in applying for permits through those agencies over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n Last month, the Canada-based Metals Company\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0it planned to submit an application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, part of the Department of Commerce, to mine the seafloor in international waters through the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. Then last week, the Impossible Metals company announced it had\u00a0submitted<\/a>\u00a0an application to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which falls under the Department of the Interior, to lease part of the seabed near American Samoa through a 1953 law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.<\/p>\n Both companies switched their strategies to seek US avenues to start mining commercially after getting fed up with delays at the United Nations\u2019 International Seabed Authority, which is in the midst of a yearslong process to come up with regulations to govern the new industry. Mining companies have spent years providing input on proposed rules along with environmental and Indigenous advocates like Kaho\u02bbohalahala.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s executive order also calls on federal agencies to write up a report on opportunities for deep-sea mining both within US waters and in international waters, and create a plan to map priority areas for seabed mineral extraction. Among other directives, the executive order calls for a report \u201con the feasibility of an international benefit-sharing mechanism for seabed mineral resource extraction and development\u201d in international waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Metals Company\u2019s announcement last month that it would bypass the United Nations process to seek mining approval from the US\u00a0sparked backlash<\/a>\u00a0from UN members and environmental groups. The environmental nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity said in a press release Thursday that the executive order \u201cdirectly contradicts efforts by the global community to adopt binding regulations that prioritize environmental protection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe deep ocean belongs to everyone, and protecting it is humanity\u2019s global duty,\u201d said Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the center. \u201cThe seafloor environment is not a platform for \u2018America First\u2019 extraction.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n