The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has given the Northern Mariana Islands an additional 30 days of public comment period on a proposal to lease their waters for deep-sea mining. The islands had asked for 120 days.
“Our islands share a connected ocean ecosystem, interdependent economies, and deep cultural and historical ties to these waters,” said Dave Aeatrmg, Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero Governor of Guam in a statement. “Any federal action in this space must therefore account for the perspectives and interests of both territorial governments.”
The governors noted the technical, scientific, and regulatory complexity of offshore mineral exploration made a 30-day comment period inadequate. Both governments, they said, need more time to conduct coordinated technical reviews and stakeholder consultations, including with coastal management program offices, environmental protection agencies, port authorities, marine research institutions, and natural resource and marine management agencies.
The Trump administration has been waging an aggressive campaign to undo the coastal protections put in place by the Biden administration and commence deep-sea mining, offshore drilling, industrial aquaculture, increased commercial fishing and other ocean industries that are not environmentally sustainable and potentially not economically viable for those areas.
Research shows that areas that have been mined have not, decades later, recovered.
