US Prepares First-Ever Seabed Mining Lease Sales in American Samoa, CNMI and Alaska

The United States government is preparing to conduct the world's first commercial-scale seabed mining lease sales, with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management planning auctions in federal waters of American Samoa in August 2026, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in November 2026, and Alaska in 2027. The lease sales, disclosed in a Department of the Interior budgetary document released in April 2026, would open nearly 875,000 square kilometres of seabed across the three territories to competitive bidding for exclusive rights to explore and exploit critical minerals, making the United States one of the first countries to proceed with commercial-scale deep-sea mining.

 

Strategic and Political Context

 

The planned lease sales follow a series of executive orders from the Trump administration directing the acceleration of energy and critical mineral production in the United States, including a specific order calling for the rapid development of the deep-sea mining industry on grounds of national security and economic prosperity. A BOEM spokesperson has framed the process as building a strong scientific foundation, conducting responsible environmental review, and establishing sound oversight frameworks to facilitate efficient development of mineral resources essential to the country's economic well-being and technological advancement. The agency has confirmed that environmental reviews for American Samoa and CNMI have already been formally initiated, and that the request for information processes in all three areas have been completed.

 

Scale and Geographic Scope of the Proposed Lease Areas

 

The combined area of potential mining blocks identified across the three territories is approximately 875,000 square kilometres, roughly twice the size of the state of California. The actual leases offered would be limited to selected tracts within these broader designated areas. The seabed in these regions is known to contain polymetallic nodules and potentially other mineral deposits including rare earth elements and critical metals that are in growing demand for battery technology, electronics, and clean energy supply chains. NOAA began surveying the seabed in American Samoa in February 2026 to inform federal agencies and the public about the potential likelihood of finding critical mineral deposits in the surveyed area.

 

Agency Restructuring and Oversight Concerns

 

In April 2026, the Department of the Interior announced plans to reunite BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to form the Marine Mineral Administration. The two agencies were separated in 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with the separation explicitly designed to strengthen environmental oversight of offshore resource development. Critics of the proposed reunification argue that merging the agencies while also implementing significant budget and staff reductions could weaken the oversight of deep-sea mining at precisely the moment when the industry is scaling. Former BOEM director Elizabeth Klein, who served from 2023 to 2025, has described the reunification as lacking justification and warned that the agencies were already under-resourced before the addition of deep-sea mining oversight, particularly given that no BOEM or BSEE offices are located in the Pacific territories where the first lease sales are planned.

 

Environmental Opposition and Ecological Stakes

 

Environmental organisations have raised serious concerns about the ecological implications of commercial-scale seabed mining. Greenpeace USA ocean campaigner Arlo Hemphill has questioned how mining companies can claim to cause no harm when they are removing the foundational structure of deep-sea ecosystems. Deep-sea ecosystems support a wide range of organisms, many of which are poorly documented, and disturbance from heavy mining equipment is considered by marine scientists to be potentially irreversible on human timescales. Community and environmental advocates in American Samoa, CNMI, and Alaska have all raised concerns, with several characterising the pace of the process as rushed and inadequately consultative of Indigenous and local communities.

 

Industry Perspective on Low-Impact Mining

 

Tony Romeo, chief executive of Eco Minerals, formerly known as Deep Sea Rare Minerals, has expressed interest in mining across all three lease areas and argues that his company's equipment represents a low-footprint approach that does not scrape, blast, or drag nets across the seabed. The characterisation reflects a broader industry argument that nodule collection represents a less invasive form of seabed disturbance than conventional dredging or trawling, though environmental scientists have generally contested the low-impact framing, arguing that any removal of polymetallic nodules destroys habitat that took millions of years to form and disrupts the ecological relationships of the surrounding benthic community. Romeo has indicated an ambition to begin exploitation in federal waters within two to three years of a lease being awarded.

 

Indigenous and Territorial Community Concerns

 

The response from Pacific Island communities and Alaskan coastal communities has been predominantly cautious or opposed. Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka of the Fina Finau Foundation in American Samoa described the federal process as failing to adequately consult the local population and characterised the community's repeated opposition as being treated as optional. Angelo Villagomez of the Center for American Progress, who grew up in Saipan in the CNMI, has described the move toward mining as a profound failure of governance and a direct assault on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Cooper Freeman of the Center for Biological Diversity in Alaska called the pace of developments shocking and emphasised the central role of ocean resources in coastal community livelihoods and cultural identity. BOEM has stated that it is engaging with tribes and Indigenous peoples and has initiated formal consultation with Alaska Natives.

 

Legal and Process Risks of an Accelerated Timeline

 

Klein has argued that the pace of the lease sales introduces legal and social risk that could ultimately undermine the viability of the first projects. She has suggested that even advocates of deep-sea mining development should prefer a more deliberate pace that builds genuine goodwill among territorial communities and establishes a firmer legal foundation. The Department of the Interior must still publish proposed leasing notices, complete final notices at least 30 days before each sale, and ensure that environmental reviews are sufficient to withstand legal challenge. The combination of rushed timelines, restructured oversight agencies, and community opposition creates a risk profile that could expose the first lease sales to legal challenge regardless of whether commercial interest is sufficient to fill the auction.

 

Implications for Global Deep-Sea Mining Governance

 

The United States lease sales, if they proceed, would mark a defining moment for the global deep-sea mining industry. No country has yet completed commercial-scale seabed mining lease sales, and the outcomes of the American Samoa, CNMI, and Alaska auctions will be watched closely by governments, mining companies, conservationists, and Pacific Island nations assessing how the industry develops. The decision by the US to proceed unilaterally in its EEZ while also taking steps toward issuing exploration and exploitation licences in international waters has created tension with the International Seabed Authority and with countries that believe deep-sea mining governance should be developed through multilateral processes. The pace and manner of the US approach will influence the positions of other governments and the trajectory of international negotiations on deep-sea governance for years to come.