Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration to stop the nation’s first mineral lease sale in the Pacific Ocean, which they say violates the Endangered Species Act.
The government’s plan to lease more than 31 million acres of seabed around the islands that make up American Samoa wasn’t sufficiently reviewed and violates federal law, Earthjustice argued in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against NOAA Fisheries and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The legal challenge filed in federal court in Hawaii arrives as the federal government moves to accelerate offshore leasing to companies proposing to extract nodules from the ocean floor that are rich in minerals and metals needed for various defense and energy applications that China controls. But the nascent deep-sea mining industry has yet to prove it can operate on a commercial scale in challenging underwater conditions, while also facing big questions about financial viability and whether companies can avoid causing permanent damage to mysterious, deep-ocean habitats.
Earthjustice is pushing the court to order the administration to halt its planned lease off of American Samoa and comply with federal law. Samoa’s congressional Del. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R) has called for a moratorium on mining in the area until the government conducts an environmental impact statement.
