Seabed mining is sneaking up on us

We just submitted our comments on a “Request for Information” (RFI) to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from “Impossible Metals” regarding their desire to extract polymetallic nodules from the seabed around American Samoa.

While American Samoa is an “unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States,” it nonetheless falls under the jurisdiction of BOEM.

As I mention in our comments “The highly recognized problem with seabed mining is that while the US has jurisdictional boundaries in and around American Samoa, these boundaries are not recognized by the ocean currents. And it is well understood that while terrestrial mining effluents and tailings can be somewhat contained by geological boundaries, mining operations in the ocean cannot.”

The big concern with this is that the mining operations would kick up all sorts of silt and mud, that once set adrift in the water column is bound to drift far afield in the ocean currents, eventually settling over vast expanses of the benthic habitat, potentially smothering thousands of square miles of benthic corals and invertebrates. And as we know very little about life in the deep sea, we have absolutely no idea what the impacts would be.

The concern is deep – and most nations belong to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to support each other in a shared caution. The US is of course rogue in this, not wanting to be limited by “no stinkin’ badges.”

This exacerbates the concern, because if BOEM grants Impossible Metals a permit to harvest the nodules, it may serve as an invitation to other nations to open the gates to mining operations in the international  Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where the ISA is managing the seabed deliberations.

The polymetallic nodules are themselves a bit of a mystery.  They take millions of years to aggregate manganese, copper, iron, cobalt, nickel, and other metals into nodules that can fit comfortably into the palm of your hand. How and why they form is mostly speculation. But there is a correlation between the nodule fields and biological diversity. So plucking these off the ocean floor where they have been part of the habitat for millions of years will likely have some unexpected deleterious biological consequence.

The original public comment period closed on July 16, but it was extended to August 16. As of this writing there are some ~1,800 comments, overwhelmingly against advancing any mining. If you’d like to contribute, you have a month to lodge your own comments. It can be simple, or detailed; but BOEM needs to know that we are watching them.