The Interior Department on Tuesday said it’s begun the process of evaluating a possible offshore mineral lease sale in U.S. waters off American Samoa, the first such auction of its kind in more than three decades.
In doing so, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the agency was advancing President Donald Trump’s vision for boosting domestic production and deep-sea mining and paving a path for possible future extraction of critical minerals from the outer continental shelf.
“Critical minerals are fundamental to strengthening our nation’s resilience and safeguarding our national interests,” Burgum said in a statement. “By providing opportunities to responsibly access deep-sea mineral resources, we are supporting both American economic growth and national security.”
But the Trump administration’s move to accelerate mineral production across the nation — from the arid West to the bottom of the ocean — is fueling concerns about vulnerable species and pollution and drawing legal threats.
