On June 25, the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), a department within the federal government that manages the nation’s natural resources, announced plans to accelerate the initiation of deep-sea mining in U.S. waters,effectively enacting President Trump’s executive order that calls for fast-tracking the industry. As part of this effort to briskly move things along, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within DOI, will be introducing various policy changes, such as expediting the permitting process, extending the duration of prospecting permits and reducing the timelines for environmental reviews. Critics have raised concerns over these developments, not only due to the controversial nature of deep-sea mining, but also because of the hurried pace at which BOEM is advancing these plans. 

While deep-sea mining has not yet started anywhere in the world, many experts warn that the industry could cause irreversible harm to marine ecosystems that are already under substantial stress from human-driven climate change and other environmental pressures.Industry proponents, however, argue that deep-sea mining is vital for securing reliable supplies of critical minerals needed for the green transition, energy security and defense.

The majority of deep-sea mining interest has focused on polymetallic nodules — potato-sized rocks containing nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese — but mineral deposits can also be found on the cobalt-rich crusts of seamounts or ridges, or the sulfide deposits around hydrothermal vents. 

In a statement published online, the department said these measures were designed to “reduce delays, improve coordination and provide greater certainty for industry, all while upholding key environmental safeguards.” The DOI also stated that the actions would “position the United States to lead in the responsible development of offshore critical minerals” while “securing access to essential resources that power our economy, bolster national defense and support emerging technologies.”

Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, BOEM has indicated that it has jurisdiction over an area that covers approximately 1.3 billion hectares (3.2 billion acres), which is about 1.6 times the size of mainland U.S., but only a subset of this area has been explored for seabed critical minerals.  To date, BOEM has not issued any commercial leases for deep-sea critical mineral exploration or exploitation.

However, that soon might change. One company, Impossible Metals, is preparing to move forward under BOEM’s updated regulatory framework. On April 8,the U.S.- and Canada-based company, which claims to have developed technology that will not harm the seabed while harvesting minerals, submitted an application for a mineral lease sale with the intention of mining off the coast of American Samoa, along the United States’ outer continental shelf. On June 16, BOEM opened a 30-day public comment period, which the agency identified as the first step in a process that could lead to the approval of the nation’s first deep-sea mining lease. 

Other companies also appear to be positioning themselves to take advantage of these regulatory changes.

According to email communications obtained by Mongabay through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process, BOEM has been in close contact with a newly incorporated Delaware-incorporated firm called Wetstone, formerly known as the “Seafloor Minerals Fund.” The company, led by former Shell executive Graham Talbot, has previously declared that it plans to invest $400 million in the deep-sea mining sector — an investment that now appears to include U.S. mineral exploration. 

In an email to BOEM on April 28, Wetstone co-founder Sahil Abbi expressed interest in several seafloor areas within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, including two targeting polymetallic nodules, one for cobalt-rich crusts and another for seafloor sulfides. Abbi said in the same email that Wetstone could submit an application “if a formal request is more helpful to demonstrate industry engagement.”

BOEM did not disclose to Mongabay whether Wetstone had formally applied for a lease sale, and Wetstone also did not respond to Mongabay’s inquiry on the matter.

In further communications with Abbi, BOEM officials expressed strong enthusiasm for collaborating with industry to expand U.S. engagement in deep-sea mining. In a March 21 email to Abbi, BOEM geologist Mark Leung wrote that the agency “would love to engage joint industry projects to leverage the best that capitalism has to offer” and expressed his view that the mineral resources of the U.S. outer continental shelf could possibly yield “the largest addition to America’s balance sheet in history.”

Leung also outlined far-reaching ideas for BOEM’s potential role in shaping the seabed mineral sector. Among his suggestions was the creation of a mineral stockpile or financial reserve that could “support U.S. currency or perhaps even contribute to a Sovereign Wealth Fund.” He also suggested regulatory reforms to enable public-private partnerships and shared a memo detailing a $13 million autonomous underwater vehicle designed to significantly cut the costs and timelines associated with mineral exploration.

BOEM did not respond by press time to Mongabay’s questions about whether the agency was implementing any of these plans.

Wetstone appears eager to support — and potentially accelerate — BOEM’s deep-sea mining agenda. In a March 27 email to Megan Carr, BOEM’s associate director of the strategic resources program, Abbi offered a range of assistance, including help with “exploration planning, tech, or resources.” Abbi also appeared willing to facilitate introductions to key figures in the sector, including Michael Lodge, the former Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), whose tenure at the intergovernmental organization was marked by controversy over alleged industry favoritism.

“We want to make sure we’re making ourselves useful to the process,” Abbi wrote to Carr.

Subsequent emails exchanged between Wetstone and BOEM from April 30 to May 20, also obtained by Mongabay, were heavily redacted but reveal continued correspondence and collaboration among Wetstone, BOEM and DOI.

Neither Wetstone nor BOEM responded to Mongabay’s follow-up questions about the nature of their relationship, their ties to Lodge or Wetstone’s deep-sea mining plans. 

Wetstone is not the only company that has signaled interest in deep-sea mining under BOEM’s regulatory framework. Odyssey Marine Exploration, a U.S. company based in Tampa, Florida, is another potential player.

According to email correspondence obtained by Mongabay through a FOIA request, Odyssey vice president John Oppermann contacted BOEM on April 30 to ask whether the agency planned to introduce a “new licensing regime to streamline the process of accessing minerals” and eliminate “hindrances to commercial participation.” BOEM critical minerals specialist Paul Knorr confirmed in an email sent the same day to Oppermann that such changes were underway.

Documentation also shows that Odyssey previously met with BOEM’s Marine Minerals Division back in January 2021 to explore the possibility of submitting an “unsolicited lease sale” application for an area near the Blake Plateau in the western Atlantic Ocean, along the U.S. outer continental shelf — a site where previous deep-sea mining tests conducted more than 50 years ago left lasting environmental damage. At the time, BOEM informed Odyssey that the area had been excluded from leasing under a 2020 executive order.

BOEM did not respond by press time to Mongabay’s question about whether this exclusion had now been reversed. 

Liz Shows, director of communications at Odyssey Marine Exploration, told Mongabay in a written statement that the company remains “committed to engaging transparently with the appropriate government agencies, both here in the U.S. and globally, through the proper legal and regulatory channels,” but that as “a matter of policy,” Odyssey would “not comment on internal discussions or speculative matters related to regulatory developments or future plans.”

Switzerland-based U.S-owned Transocean Ltd., which maintains a U.S. office in Houston and has invested in two deep-sea mining companies — U.S.-based Ocean Minerals, and Belgium-based Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) — has also been in contact with BOEM since the release of Trump’s executive order, according to emails obtained by Mongabay through FOIA. The communications reveal that senior BOEM advisers met with Transocean representatives on May 7 to discuss “offshore minerals, oil and gas leasing, and regulatory developments” tied to Trump’s executive order on deep-sea mining. 

Transocean did not respond to Mongabay’s requests for information on the nature of these discussions. BOEM also did not respond.

David Derrick, a staff attorney at the oceans program of the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization based in the U.S. city of Tucson, said he was concerned with the speed with which BOEM was moving forward with its plans, which he said illustrates a lack of care about protecting the marine environment.  

“They [BOEM officials] have decided that this is a good idea, and they’re going to check some boxes on environmental reviews, because the law requires them to do so,” Derrick told Mongabay. “But it’s clear that they’re not going to actually study the harm that they’re imposing on these ecosystems, and that they’re intending to drive this policy through regardless.” He added that every U.S. agency, including BOEM, is responsible for fully understanding the environmental consequences of their actions.

Derrick said BOEM’s policy changes has made it clear that the agency “wants more applications” for deep-sea mining and that the agency intends to move projects forward “with haste.” 

“So much is at stake,” Derrick said, “for the deep sea, for the whole ocean, and for the whole climate.”

Banner image: The robotic arm of a remote-operated underwater vehicle grips a polymetallic nodule on which a coral grows. Image courtesy of Geomar Bilddatenbank via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a senior staff writer for Mongabay and a fellow with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network. Find her on Bluesky and LinkedIn. 

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