Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
A new executive order, issued on 24 April, aims to help private companies to mine the deep sea.
Some areas of the ocean floor host swaths of potato-sized nodules that contain coveted minerals such as cobalt and nickel. For the past decade, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has been developing a mining code, which would govern the laws of how nations explore and exploit these resources.
But in the new executive order citing the 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, President Trump declared that the United States—the only major global economy that is not part of the ISA—would create a process for granting companies permits to mine these minerals.
Under the Law of 1994 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty (which the United States did not ratify), a nation has economic rights to the resources within 200 nautical miles of its coast, but international waters fall under ISA jurisdiction.
The new order aims to establish the United States “as a global leader in seabed mineral exploration and development both within and beyond national jurisdiction,” according to text released by the White House.
Dozens of nations have called for a moratorium, pause, or ban on deep-sea mining, and companies including BMW, Google, and Samsung have vowed to not use deep-sea minerals in their products until the risks of doing so are better understood. When The Metals Company, a Canadian seabed mining company, announced in March that it planned to apply for exploration and extraction permits through the U.S. government, even nations that generally support mining in international waters, such as China and Russia, condemned the company’s actions.
At the ISA Council’s session last month, Leticia Carvalho, secretary general of the ISA, expressed “deep concern” over The Metals Company’s announcement, saying that any unilateral action not taken under the ISA’s authority “would constitute a violation of international law.”
As Eos has reported, much of the concern surrounding deep sea mining comes from how little is known about ecosystems on the ocean floor, meaning mining these modules could have significant unforeseen impacts.
“There are still major gaps in understanding biodiversity and ecosystem functions at polymetallic nodule ecosystems,” Sabine Gollner, a deep-sea marine biologist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research told Eos last year. “Once nodules are removed by mining, all biodiversity and functions directly dependent on the minerals will be lost for millions of years at the mined location.”
These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at [email protected].
