American Samoa Said No to Deep-Sea Mining. The US Government Doubled The Area

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How would you feel if you lived on an
island in the Pacific and the federal

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government, the federal US government
came out and said, "Hey, you know what?

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There's a company that's interested
in doing deep sea mining in and

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around your island, and they would
like to know if you're okay with it.

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We have to open up this
public comment period.

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We'll call it a Request For Information,
an RFI, and you put in your comment,

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you let me know if you like it or
not." And then 80 to 98% after

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30 days said, "Hey, you know what?

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We don't want this at all.

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In fact, our governor from two
years ago said we're gonna put

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a moratorium on deep sea mining.

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So no, we don't want this actually
at all And then they said, "Yeah,

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we're actually gonna increase the
area, almost double the area size,

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and then we're just gonna put out the
lease, like the lease sale anyway."

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How would you feel about that?

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That's exactly what's happening
to the American Samoa right

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now, and they are not happy.

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In fact, a lot of people aren't
happy in and around the US and

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around the world that this
deep-sea mining is going to happen.

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And in this episode of the How to Protect
the Ocean podcast, we're gonna be talking

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about everything that went on, the
whole situation, the overview, and then

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we're gonna find out all the details.

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This is gonna be an interesting
episode, so you don't wanna miss it.

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Anyway, let's talk about the situation.

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Here's the overview.

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The US government is moving toward the
world's first commercial deep-sea mining

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lease sale located just off in the federal
waters off the coast of American Samoa.

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So the agency in charge that's
doing this is the Marine

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Minerals Administration, the MMA.

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Kinda interesting acronym,
especially with martial arts and

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the UFC in being such an important
role in the government these days.

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But it's a newly formed agency which
merges the Bureau of Ocean Energy

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Management, BOEM, and the Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement,

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which I think is, again, very interesting
because we don't know what the problem

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is gonna be with the environment, which
we'll talk about later on in the show.

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So on July 16th, 2026, MMA and BOEM
published a proposed leasing notice,

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a PLN, for the American Samoa Outer
Continental Shelf mineral lease sale.

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The lease sale itself is projected to go
August 2026 and will be live-streamed

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rather than open to the public.

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So I think that's interesting.

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It's not gonna be open to anybody
who wants to do it, it's gonna be

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just be open to that area or just the
upstream, whoever gets access to it,

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I assume it's not open to the public.

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The area of auction is gonna be
the roughly the size of 33 million

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acres of sea floor, roughly 51,560
square miles for my American friends.

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The target mineral is polymetallic
nodules, which is like a potato-shaped

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rock on the sea floor containing nickel,
cobalt, copper, manganese, and other

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critical minerals used in EV batteries
and electronics, which is, as you

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know probably by now, that critical
minerals are very in style these days.

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People need it for a lot of different
things, you know, electronics,

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circuits and all that kind of stuff.

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The proposed mining area sits adjacent
to the Rose Atoll Marine National

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Monument and borders the National
Marine Sanctuary of the American Samoa,

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both protected for unique biodiversity.

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So again, there's these protected
areas that are around the area

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that's gonna be up for lease.

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That could go wrong.

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If this situation goes wrong, which
probably will, let's be honest, we

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don't know what we're doing to the deep
sea if we start mining the deep sea.

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We have no idea the processes, we have
no idea what's going to happen, and now

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you have two protected areas, monuments,
that are around there that could be

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in danger if something goes wrong.

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So that's something to think about.

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This part of the broader federal
push, the MMA has also proposed lease

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sales off the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands and Alaska.

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I'll be honest, this is very frustrating.

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Both the American Samoa and Mariana
Islands had a huge majority against

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wanting to do deep sea mining,
and then this is what happens.

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This is a really big slap in the
face to the people of CNMI, the

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Northern Mariana Islands, and
of course, the American Samoa.

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So let's talk about how we got there
and looking at the RFI process, or

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Request for Information process.

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So the process started when a
California-based company, Impossible

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Metals, formally asked BOEM in April
2025 to open a leasing process for

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nodules off of the American Samoa.

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BOEM responded by publishing a request
for information and interest, so RFI, in

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the Federal Register on June 16th, 2025.

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This kicked off a 30-day public
comment period closing August 2025.

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On June 23rd, 2025, American Samoa's
government leaders, including the

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governor, legislature, and the territory's
congressional delegate, issued a unified

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statement opposing the leasing process.

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This built on a moratorium of American
Samoa governor put in place in July

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2024, banning mining extraction or
exploration activity in the local waters.

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Though this only covers the three nautical
miles offshore, federal waters go beyond

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that outside the territory's control.

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You can ban the deep sea mining
from happening within three

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nautical miles, which probably
wouldn't have happened anyway.

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But beyond that is federal water, so they
can do whatever they want, unfortunately,

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like beyond that in the federal waters.

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So here's the comment results.

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So seventy-five thousand to
seventy-six thousand comments were

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submitted to the RFI comment period.

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A reported opposition ranges from
roughly from eighty percent to

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ninety-eight percent, depending on
the source of the end analysis, which

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is still quite a majority of people.

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BOEM's own summary of the comment
period acknowledged that most

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commenters cited America and Samoa's
local moratorium and opposed leasing.

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So it was all opposition.

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Community members, environmental groups
like Greenpeace, Earthjustice, NRDC,

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and neighboring territories like Guams
and CNMI, the Commonwealth Northern

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Mariana Islands, have all pointed to
the same figure as evidence that the

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process disregarded the public will.

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Despite this, BOEM proceeded to the
next stage, identifying the lease area.

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Now, the area, as I mentioned before,
didn't shrink after the RFI process.

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It actually expanded.

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So despite the opposition,
the area identified grew from

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about eighteen million acres
to thirty-three million acres.

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So some of the drivers that were
cited was the US Geological Survey

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mapping priorities and industry
proposals for additional acreage.

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BOEM has acknowledged it does not
have a clear framework showing how

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community opposition was wedged against
industry's interests in this decision.

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So June 2025, the RFI was
published, 18 million acres.

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August 2025, comment period
closes 75,000 plus comments,

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majority opposed, so 80 to 98%.

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November 2025, BOEM announces
RFI process completed.

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And then on March 26th, BOEM
releases analysis of comments areas

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like the area already growing.

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And then on July 16th, 2026,
proposed leasing notice published

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area now 33 million acres.

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In August 2026, which is projected,
the lease sale will take place So

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some of the companies involved, as I
mentioned, Impossible Metals, they're

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California, San Jose-based startup.

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The company that filed the original
request that started this process,

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developing an AI-guided robotic vehicle
designed to selectively pick nodules

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while avoiding visible marine life.

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Signed a memorandum of understanding with
the American Samoa Economic Development

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Council in late 2023 to process nodules
locally into battery-grade metals and

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use the Pago Pago Port infrastructure.

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The Metals Company widely seen as the
deep sea mining industry's frontrunner

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globally, has tested equipment at
scale, hauled up to three thousand

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metric tons of nodules in a 2002
trial in the Clarion-Clipperton

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Zone, which is in the Pacific.

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It's a very popular deep sea
zone which has been the prize, I

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guess, for these types of nodules.

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And then several smaller or newer entrants
have also expressed interest, including

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American Metal Resources, CX Deep Sea
Minerals Corp., and a company that was

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planning to rename itself Eco Minerals.

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Very surprising name.

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Notably, one report describes a firm that
got its start hunting sunken treasure in

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a startup that grew out of an effort to
locate Amelia Earhart's lost plane, now

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pivoting into seabed mining collection.

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I guess they have the
infrastructure to do it.

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So the one thing we haven't talked about,
we talked about this whole process.

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We talked about how people were against
it because they didn't want it, because

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they cited a lot of times the governor's
moratorium on the deep sea mining.

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But there are environmental
consequences that scientists

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are really worried about it.

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A 2025 Nature Ecology and Evolution study
on the actual industrial-scale test in

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the Pacific found macrofaunal seafloor
animals' density dropped thirty-seven

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percent directly within like mining
tracts, with a thirty-two percent

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reduction in species richness just two
months after the single test mining pass.

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So imagine if that happened
a lot in that area.

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The effects could be devastating.

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A separate 2025 Nature study looking
at a 1970s test mining site found

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that four decades later, biological
impacts in many groups of organisms

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were still detectable, though some
species had begun to reestablish.

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It's still not that great.

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We still see the effects
four decades later.

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Now, a 2025 Frontiers in Marine
Science review describes the

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anticipated impacts as long-lasting
and potentially irreversible.

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Removal of seafloor substrate that
supports marine life, sediment plumes

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that can disperse far beyond the mining
site, toxic metals release, and of

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course, a noise and light pollution
from mining equipment And then field

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simulation research in the Western
Pacific found that sediment distribution

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from mining vehicles were 30 times
greater than the natural wave or

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current disturbance, with turbidity
effects and reduced dissolved oxygen

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persistent for hours after a single pass.

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A widely cited estimate for every
ton of nodules mined, 2.5 to 5.5

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tons of sediment gets disturbed
and suspended in the water column.

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I wanna talk a little bit as you
kinda digest that, about what these

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structures are gonna look like.

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Dr. Andrew Thaler, who's been on
the podcast a number of times,

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kind of put it, last time he
was on, put it into perspective.

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It is not just gonna be vehicles on
the ground just taking mines and then

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floating back up and going into it.

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There's gonna be a tube that goes
from the surface of the boat, and

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then down to these vehicles
where everything's being mined.

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And essentially, it's going to
carry the nodules all the way

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from the sea floor all the way up.

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So there's gonna be all this tube that
goes thousands of meters in the water

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column all the way up to the surface.

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And then of course, on the surface,
it's gonna be like a small city for

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each of these different outfits.

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Now, what that says is that the
disturbance is not just gonna

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be on the ground, it's gonna be
all throughout the water column.

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We have no idea how it's
gonna affect migration routes.

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We have no idea how it's going to affect
just natural fish and seabird and

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other sort of animals and organisms sort
of behavior around these structures.

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We have no idea if these structures
can rip or sediment plumes can

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go out from those if it leaks.

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Like think about like we can't
even do a pipeline properly.

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Imagine a tube that has to face
all this different pressure from

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the surface all the way down to
the bottom, how that's gonna work.

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It's just gonna be a problem all around.

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And I want you to kinda understand this
because a lot of times we see pictures

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of things on the bottom of the ground.

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They're just on the surface, so it's
like a vacuum, but there's still

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a lot of sediment on the ground.

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There's sand and all these
different types of things.

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And if that goes up in the air,
we have no idea the effects of

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what's gonna happen around it.

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As anybody who has a marine aquarium or
even a freshwater aquarium, when sediment

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is disturbed, all the stuff that like
the detritus, like all the poo and all

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that kind of stuff that's on the ground
turns into nitrates and ammonia nitrates.

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When that bottom gets disturbed
and it comes all up, that could

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be like an ammonia bomb is what
we call in the aquarium industry.

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And so if we see this on a larger scale,
this could be a big problem that I don't

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know I've never seen really anything
looking at that, but that's a big problem.

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Plus, we have all these macrofauna and
microfauna that are in the sediment, that

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are in the water column, and we have
no idea the effect that's gonna happen.

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We know some of it 'cause I've just read
some of the stuff off of you of some of

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the studies, but it's, really not good.

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Some of the socioeconomic consequences
that we're talking about, a 2023 study

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in the NPJ Ocean Sustainability found deep
seabed mining lacks social legitimacy,

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noting Pacific fisheries provide
revenue, nutrition, employment, and

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livelihoods for island communities that
are already stressed by climate impacts.

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So the same study flagged the tuna
fisheries as a specific concern since they

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can overlap with proposed mining areas
and tuna access fees account for up to

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eighty-four percent of the GDP for some
tuna-dependent Pacific Island states.

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A 2025 Nature commentary from Pacific
Island leaders warn that sediment plumes

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can drift across hundreds of kilometers
for decades, potentially diminishing

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catch rates, contaminating seafood, and
crossing national jurisdiction lines.

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A 2021 Frontiers in Marine Science
paper on traditional Pacific seabed

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resource management stresses that
the ocean is not just an economic

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resource for Pacific communities, but
central to cultural identity, social

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relations, and a worldview, and
argues current regulatory frameworks

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00:12:55,544 --> 00:12:57,304
don't account for that connection.

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A review cited by the Ocean Foundation
covering more than 250 peer-reviewed

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00:13:01,804 --> 00:13:05,194
articles concluded that social and
cultural impacts on Pacific communities

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remain largely unknown, while the economic
benefits of mining remained questionable.

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This is one of the situations that
we talk about in conservation when

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indigenous voices are not heard.

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Indigenous Pacific Islanders have
had a history with colonialism

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and being affected by colonialism.

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And because they don't really have
a say in these types of situations.

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They didn't really have much of a
say when they opened up the Pacific

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monuments, like the sanctuaries, and when
industrial fleets wanted to fish it again.

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They didn't really have a
say when they put it in.

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They had some say, like they were
consulted, but they don't have a

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final say because they're a territory.

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The thing is that this
impacts their lives.

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All the consequences impact their
lives, and then the fruits of the labor

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that are actually used are just gonna
get exported outside their territory.

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I talked a, number of episodes
ago about how indigenous people

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in Canada are starting to take
ownership of a lot of the major

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projects that are happening in Canada.

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And they're taking ownership for
a number of different reasons.

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Not only because they should benefit on
the economic side, which will help benefit

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on their social side for the revenue
that's generated on their land, 'cause

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a lot of times it crosses their land.

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But they also have a say in the
environmental processes that are

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looked after from a regulatory process.

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They wanna make sure it is part of
their culture, for many indigenous

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people, not only in Canada, but all
over the world, to ensure that they

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are living in harmony with nature.

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And if they don't live in harmony
with nature, that's a problem.

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That affects their livelihood.

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The CNMI and a lot of other
communities recently just had their

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second super typhoon in 90 days.

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When I talked to Angelo Villagomez,
who's from the CNMI, and now lives

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in Washington, DC, he commented and he
said five years ago, before the second

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to last super typhoon in May, five
years ago when another super typhoon

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came in, it took out all the schools.

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They hadn't rebuilt the schools yet.

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That was in 2019.

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And now they're getting another one.

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They got another one in May and
another one just recently in

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beginning of July, end of June.

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These are the people who pay the
consequences of climate change, of deep

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00:15:09,794 --> 00:15:14,224
sea mining, of mismanaged fisheries,
and they are given opportunity to have

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a say, but nobody listens to them.

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So this deep-rooted colonialism is
affecting unfortunately, the way these

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00:15:21,472 --> 00:15:22,692
indigenous people are gonna live.

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It's super frustrating to have to watch
that over and over and over again.

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I can't even imagine just living it.

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And so this is again, just another
example of what this government

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00:15:31,412 --> 00:15:33,729
thinks of their indigenous people.

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They're in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean.

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00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:36,329
Who cares about them?

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That's the feeling that everybody
is getting from this process.

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00:15:39,905 --> 00:15:42,365
And like, do the American
Samoans actually want this?

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No.

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Based on every available public
measure of public sentiment

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00:15:46,209 --> 00:15:47,259
so far, they don't want it.

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00:15:47,609 --> 00:15:51,459
The American Samoas governor, territorial
legislature, and congressional delegate

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00:15:51,459 --> 00:15:56,279
have all publicly and formally opposed
deep-sea mining in the territorial waters.

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00:15:56,725 --> 00:16:01,055
Delegate Redwagan has been quoted, "As it
stands, the people of American Samoa are

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00:16:01,055 --> 00:16:06,385
opposed to deep-sea mining in and around
the territory." I watched a live broadcast

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00:16:06,395 --> 00:16:11,505
from a post-congressional hearing, where
representatives from CNMI, from Guam,

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00:16:11,545 --> 00:16:15,705
and from American Samoa came up and
said, "We've had no say in the process.

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00:16:15,715 --> 00:16:17,675
We have no benefit in the process.

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00:16:17,942 --> 00:16:20,905
Why would we allow this to happen?"
They have not been consulted

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00:16:20,935 --> 00:16:23,482
other than the RFI, and even then
they're not even listened to.

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00:16:23,937 --> 00:16:28,617
American Samoa's own government issued
a moratorium in July 2024 banning mining

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00:16:28,637 --> 00:16:31,947
extraction exploration activity within
roughly three miles of the islands, a

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00:16:31,957 --> 00:16:34,077
limit on the territory's own jurisdiction.

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00:16:34,513 --> 00:16:38,573
And the community groups like Fa'aso
America Samoa have criticized the

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00:16:38,573 --> 00:16:41,793
federal government for what they
describe as fast-tracking the lease

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00:16:41,793 --> 00:16:45,713
sale while ignoring the voices of the
very people whose waters, traditions,

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00:16:45,713 --> 00:16:47,483
and livelihoods are on the line.

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00:16:47,953 --> 00:16:51,333
One important nuance, the American
Samoa Economic Development Council, a

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00:16:51,333 --> 00:16:55,853
territorial economic development body,
signed an MOU with Impossible Metals in

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00:16:55,853 --> 00:16:59,633
late 2023 and has separately pursued
an international seabed authority

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00:16:59,633 --> 00:17:03,213
license application framing mining as
a source of jobs and economic growth.

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00:17:03,350 --> 00:17:07,203
Its executive director, John Wasco,
has spoken in support of the industry.

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00:17:07,453 --> 00:17:10,953
This puts the Economic Development
Council public's position at odds with

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00:17:10,963 --> 00:17:14,093
the territory's elected government and
legislature, and apparently the public.

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00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:17,427
Here's the situation as Angelo
put it into perspective.

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A lot of the places, like CNMI, American
Samoa, not much, as much Guam, but the

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00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,147
other two, they struggle economically.

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00:17:24,543 --> 00:17:27,653
There's not a lot of industry,
there's not a lot of stuff going on.

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00:17:27,673 --> 00:17:32,413
And so when opportunities like this come
along, they're short-lived, the benefits

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00:17:32,423 --> 00:17:34,443
may not be great in the long term.

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00:17:34,673 --> 00:17:37,943
But because the economic situation that
they're in, sometimes there are people

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00:17:37,943 --> 00:17:41,617
who are gonna wanna have it because
they think it's gonna help build jobs,

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00:17:41,627 --> 00:17:44,337
it's gonna help with, people who go
out there are gonna have to stay on

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00:17:44,337 --> 00:17:47,037
the island, like in the hotels and
stuff like that before they can go

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00:17:47,037 --> 00:17:48,573
offshore, all these types of things.

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00:17:48,583 --> 00:17:50,903
So there's gonna be more people
there, but will it actually

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00:17:50,903 --> 00:17:52,663
help the American Samoan people?

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00:17:52,723 --> 00:17:54,153
Like, that's really what it comes down.

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00:17:54,590 --> 00:17:56,640
So opposition is not universal.

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00:17:56,660 --> 00:17:58,760
There is a difference between the
elected government and general

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00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,710
public opposition, and the more
pro-development stance of the council

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00:18:02,710 --> 00:18:04,460
and some industry-aligned local voices.

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00:18:04,460 --> 00:18:06,480
So, the bottom line, though, that
you really need to know, this is

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00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:09,460
on track to be the first commercial
deep sea mining operation anywhere

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00:18:09,460 --> 00:18:13,017
in the world, not hypothetical that
we've seen before, but actively

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00:18:13,017 --> 00:18:14,617
moving through the federal process.

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00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,783
The lease sale is currently projected
for August 2026, with the governor of

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00:18:18,783 --> 00:18:23,323
American Samoa given sixty days to comment
once the leasing notice is finalized.

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00:18:23,613 --> 00:18:27,770
The gap between what the public said,
an overwhelming opposition, and what

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00:18:27,770 --> 00:18:32,380
the government did, expanding the mining
area, is a central tension of this story.

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00:18:32,853 --> 00:18:36,380
And worth flagging for you guys,
for you listeners, you wanna verify

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00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:38,450
all these stats, and you wanna make
sure that everything's good when

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00:18:38,450 --> 00:18:39,720
you look into this kind of thing.

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00:18:39,867 --> 00:18:42,067
There are people and there are
organization that are looking out

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00:18:42,067 --> 00:18:43,620
for the American Samoan people.

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00:18:43,737 --> 00:18:47,377
So look out for ways to sign
petitions if you are against this,

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00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:51,547
ways to support organizations like
EarthJustice, Greenpeace, NRDC.

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00:18:51,630 --> 00:18:54,800
These are the organizations that are
gonna take the government to court based

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00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,790
on the RFI, all this kind of stuff.

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00:18:56,930 --> 00:18:59,580
And of course, if you really wanna
take place, if you live in the US,

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00:18:59,679 --> 00:19:02,083
vote, vote, vote for these midterms.

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00:19:02,236 --> 00:19:05,136
And if you want this to be flipped,
you wanna flip the House and the

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00:19:05,136 --> 00:19:09,726
Senate or either or both because
this is gonna matter in the future.

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00:19:09,833 --> 00:19:12,273
And it's only the government
that can really stop this, and

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00:19:12,273 --> 00:19:13,483
the people need to be heard.

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00:19:13,493 --> 00:19:16,649
So if you wanna be heard, you can
follow organizations like Future

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00:19:16,649 --> 00:19:21,339
Swell, Greenpeace, NRDC, and Earth
Justice to be able to find out what's

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00:19:21,339 --> 00:19:22,783
happening and how you can help.

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00:19:22,953 --> 00:19:24,203
That's it for the episode today.

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00:19:24,203 --> 00:19:27,723
Unfortunately, a lot of the things that
I talked about today is disappointing.

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00:19:27,853 --> 00:19:31,833
I mean, unfortunately, this is happening,
especially in this 2026 United States.

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00:19:31,996 --> 00:19:36,099
And people are not on the forefront of the
minds of this government administration.

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00:19:36,099 --> 00:19:36,949
It's just too bad.

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00:19:37,139 --> 00:19:38,989
It's something that we have to
look out for and it's something

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00:19:38,989 --> 00:19:40,559
that we need to be on track.

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00:19:40,569 --> 00:19:43,159
And this is why we tell you on here,
on this How to Protect the Ocean

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00:19:43,159 --> 00:19:45,059
podcast, because it's something
that I think it's important, I

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00:19:45,069 --> 00:19:46,849
think it's valuable for you to know.

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00:19:47,083 --> 00:19:48,923
So I'd love to hear your
comments or questions.

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00:19:49,096 --> 00:19:49,786
Please let me know.

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00:19:49,826 --> 00:19:53,783
Go to speakupforblue.com, and you can
check out any ways to get a hold of me.

383
00:19:53,793 --> 00:19:56,353
You can go to the show notes,
and look at Instagram, TikTok.

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00:19:56,363 --> 00:19:58,443
You can DM me, or even
on Facebook or LinkedIn.

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00:19:58,589 --> 00:19:59,849
Always feel free to message me.

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00:19:59,849 --> 00:20:02,269
I'd love to answer your
questions or have a conversation,

387
00:20:02,269 --> 00:20:03,099
'cause that's what we do here.

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00:20:03,099 --> 00:20:06,779
We try and start the conversation, and you
guys continue it, and we have a good time.

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00:20:06,916 --> 00:20:08,756
And of course, if you wanna
support the podcast, you can go

390
00:20:08,756 --> 00:20:11,516
to speakupforblue.com/patreon.

391
00:20:11,826 --> 00:20:14,063
I would love to have your support,
be a part of the community.

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00:20:14,063 --> 00:20:16,596
We'll put up some extra stuff on
there, some vlogs and all that kinda

393
00:20:16,606 --> 00:20:20,816
stuff once we get people starting
to go ahead and support the Patreon,

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00:20:20,879 --> 00:20:21,949
and just start this community.

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00:20:22,049 --> 00:20:24,919
So I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

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00:20:24,919 --> 00:20:26,119
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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00:20:26,269 --> 00:20:27,249
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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00:20:27,259 --> 00:20:27,869
Have a great day.

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00:20:27,869 --> 00:20:29,949
We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.