The White House is deliberating an executive order to facilitate deep-sea mining in international waters, allowing U.S. companies to bypass the UN's review process. This initiative, driven by President Trump’s focus on securing access to critical minerals like nickel and copper, follows previous attempts to increase domestic mineral production. The proposed order intends to utilize the Department of Commerce's NOAA mining code, potentially reducing regulatory oversight for mining firms. Environmental concerns remain as the International Seabed Authority continues to work on establishing mining standards, with proponents arguing for reduced environmental impacts compared to land mining.
Trump's deep-sea mining order is likely to stipulate that the U.S. aims to exercise its rights to extract critical minerals on the ocean's floor.
The International Seabed Authority has for years been considering standards for deep-sea mining in international waters, although it has yet to formalize them.
Such a step could give mining companies a formal permitting process to complete and avoid the potential perception that they aim to mine the ocean's floors without any oversight.
Companies that aim to mine the seabed say they consider the practice's environmental impacts to be significantly smaller than mining on land.
Collection
[
|
...
]