In a legal challenge that has put a spotlight on the growing global clash between critical mineral development and marine conservation, a prominent U.S. environmental nonprofit launched a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block the Trump administration’s plan to auction off 33 million acres of seabed off the coast of American Samoa for commercial deep-sea mining.
Earthjustice filed the suit in federal court against the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, acting on behalf of two Pacific conservation organizations: Fa‘asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i. The legal complaint asks a federal judge to immediately halt all progress on the leasing plan and force NMFS to comply fully with the Endangered Species Act and other core federal environmental protection laws.
“The United States has never opened its waters to deep-sea mining. Until now,” the lawsuit states. The administration’s plan would sell mineral extraction leases for a vast stretch of seabed rich in nickel, cobalt and manganese – minerals critical to manufacturing batteries, consumer electronics and a range of modern industrial products. The complaint argues that NMFS’ recent conclusion that mining leasing would not harm critical habitats or endangered and threatened species is “a wholly arbitrary and capricious determination” that ignores well-documented ecological risks.
For the Indigenous communities of American Samoa, a healthy ocean ecosystem is not just an environmental asset but a foundation of daily life and cultural identity. The ecosystem supplies food for local households, buffers shorelines from storm damage, and has shaped cultural practices that have persisted for more than 1,000 years. Many native marine species found in American Samoan waters, including endangered sea turtles considered sacred (called *i‘a sa* by local communities), migrate between American Samoa and Hawaiian waters. American Samoa already enforces strict protections for sacred marine species including whales, sharks and giant manta rays, banning any capture or harm to these animals.
The waters around American Samoa support an extraordinarily diverse array of rare marine life, including shallow and mesophotic coral reefs, deep-sea invertebrates, hundreds of fish and coral species, and multiple protected populations. The proposed mining lease area hosts five endangered sea turtle populations, four endangered whale species, five threatened coral species and four threatened marine animals including the giant manta ray. It sits just 57 miles from the protected Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, one of the region’s most ecologically important intact marine ecosystems.
The Trump administration’s push to expedite deep-sea mining permits runs directly counter to a growing global movement to restrict the untested practice. Dozens of countries have already called for a global moratorium or full ban on commercial deep-sea mining, citing major unresolved risks including underwater noise pollution, light disruption, and suffocating sediment plumes that can wipe out deep-sea ecosystems that have taken millennia to develop. Notably, no commercial deep-sea mining operation is currently operating anywhere in the world. The International Seabed Authority, the U.N. body that regulates mining in international waters, has only issued exploration licenses to date and has not approved any commercial extraction projects.
Because the United States has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, domestic deep-sea mineral activity is regulated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). When contacted by the Associated Press on Tuesday, a NMFS spokesperson declined to comment on ongoing litigation, and the U.S. Department of Commerce did not immediately issue a response to requests for comment.
The American Samoa leasing plan is not the administration’s only recent move to expand domestic deep-sea mining. Just one day before the lawsuit was filed, the federal government published a proposed leasing notice for 69 million acres of federal waters surrounding the Northern Mariana Islands, marking a massive expansion of the administration’s push for domestic seabed mineral development.
In a statement supporting the expansion, Matt Giacona, acting director of the Marine Minerals Administration, framed the policy as a matter of national and economic security. “Critical minerals are essential to America’s national security, economic strength and resource sovereignty,” Giacona said. “The United States cannot afford to depend on foreign nations for the resources that power our economy and support our defense industrial base.”
The administration’s moves have drawn sharp condemnation from the scientific and environmental communities. “It’s disgraceful that the Trump administration is bulldozing ahead with plans to allow deep-sea mining while the people who live closest to the proposed project are rightfully demanding that it be stopped,” said Nick Katkevich, oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These massive mining projects are just too experimental and dangerous for marine life to allow them to go forward.”