House members butted heads Thursday over the Trump administration’s accelerated push to allow deep-sea mining, with at least one Republican crossing the aisle to raise alarm.
Most Republicans on a House Science subcommittee applauded NOAA for moving quickly to permit offshore exploration and mining under President Donald Trump’s recent directive to compete with China and Russia. The administration is moving to allow mining in international waters despite concern from global regulators who continue to hammer out safeguards.
“We already know that China has ramped up mining activities in the Pacific and has repeatedly demonstrated it does not follow the same rules as other countries,” said Republican Rep. Scott Franklin of Florida, chair of the Environment Subcommittee.
Gerard Barron, CEO of Vancouver-based The Metals Co., the first company to move through NOAA’s newly condensed process, said they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on research and called on other countries to follow suit.
