American Samoa Fights Back Against the US’s Plans for its Deep-sea Ecosystems
~2.5 minute read
Photo by John Wong from AFP via Getty Images
After nearly depleting numerous rare earth reserves in Africa, commercial tech monopolies are targeting both deep space and the deep sea to mine and extract rare earth metals that vastly outnumber those found on land. Whether they are the deep sea’s polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, cobalt, and copper or the M-type asteroids’ platinum-group metals, these companies are seeking to offload the current environmental problems faced by mining on land by seeking other possible alternatives. Because of this, the US recently announced its plans to auction commercial leases across more than 33 million acres of the American Samoa’s seabed since this area is rich in nickel, cobalt, and manganese, the same minerals that are responsible for powering the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and advanced tech infrastructure.
Less than twenty miles away from the proposed auction site, though, is the Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge where many endangered and threatened species like Maori wrasse, large parrotfishes, and blacktip, whitetip, and gray reef sharks have been protected from commercial exploitation and illegal poaching for more than the past twenty years. In spite of these protections, the acting director of the Marine Minerals Administration, Matt Giacona, claims that the cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese reserves surrounding the Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge “are essential to America’s national security, economic strength, and resource sovereignty”.
Still, the American Samoa government strongly opposes the Trump administration’s plans to exploit their natural resources similar to the US already commercializing outer space without considering how the move will affect surrounding ecosystems. By primarily prioritizing industrial and economic gains, the US fails to acknowledge how it will negatively affect the American Samoa’s biodiversity via reduced deep-sea oxygen production, increased toxic discharges, and facilitated spread of invasive species or pathogens. Not only has the American Samoan government passed a moratorium to protect its waters against any deep sea mining from the U.S. government, but the environmental group Earthjustice recently sued the National Marine Fisheries Service and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on August 18 for violating the Endangered Species Act among other federal laws.
Even though the US government detailed how the deep sea mining would positively benefit corporate interests, it conveniently avoided analyzing how the leases would also expose sixty endangered or threatened species to irreversible extinction, prompting Earthjustice’s counter move to pause the leases until a more rigorous, legally mandated environmental impact study is conducted. Because the leases, as they stand, have the machinery to “nearly destroy all life in its path” and they follow the Trump administration’s decision to roll back key parts of the Endangered Species Act Regulation Reform in July 2026, which have already been highly criticized by environmental and conservation groups like Earthjustice.
With the deep-sea mining lease sale scheduled for November 19, 2026, the American Samoa region can potentially experience a severe loss of previously protected wildlife. Or if Earthjustice is successful in its legal challenge against the deep sea leases, future mining permits in similar deep sea territories will be placed on hold until the federal government can prove that those waters and its ecosystems will still be protected.