The Trump administration on Monday set a Nov. 19 auction for what the Interior Department's Marine Minerals Administration calls its first-ever offshore mineral lease sale, putting two vast stretches of seabed off American Samoa up for bid. The tracts may hold deposits rich in nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, and the sale would mark the first time the federal government has offered companies leases to mine the ocean floor, The Hill reported.
The final leasing notice, for a sale designated PACM-1, lays out the tracts on offer, the auction schedule, lease terms and stipulations, rental and royalty rates, and instructions for prospective bidders. It is due to go on public display in the Federal Register on Tuesday. Together the two areas cover about 31.5 million acres, gCaptain reported, with one of roughly 16.3 million acres and the other about 15.2 million. The Hill put the total at nearly 32 million acres.
Each area carries a minimum bid of $3 million and a primary lease term of 20 years, according to the maritime news site. Production royalties would start at 2% for the first five years of commercial mining and climb to 5% after that.
A lease would not, on its own, let anyone start mining. The agency said a winning bid authorizes only preliminary activities such as mapping, and that it will run a multi-stage regulatory process before a company can begin physical exploration, testing or full-scale commercial harvesting, steps that would each need separate federal approvals and environmental reviews. The agency has completed an environmental assessment of the leasing and those early activities under the National Environmental Policy Act and issued a finding of no significant impact this month.
"Critical minerals are no longer just commodities; they are a vital strategic asset in global competition, essential for reaching our energy efficiency goals, strengthening our national defense, and securing domestic supply chains," Mike Olsen, the agency's acting director, said in announcing the notice. He added that the agency recognizes that the ocean floor around American Samoa "carries cultural, economic, and environmental significance" and said its priorities would stay guided by science, environmental review and engagement with the territory's people and leaders.
The notice advances the administration's drive to expand mining on land and at sea, an effort the president jump-started for the deep ocean with an executive order last year. The administration has made domestic supplies of critical minerals a national security priority, in part to cut reliance on supply chains dominated by China. A separate leasing proposal is moving forward near the Northern Mariana Islands, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been processing applications for deep-sea mineral exploration in international waters under U.S. law.
The agency running the sale is itself new. Secretary's Order 3451 created the Marine Minerals Administration by folding the authorities of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement into one body, a reunification that took effect July 10. The final notice follows a proposed leasing notice published in July.
Environmental groups condemned the decision. "These lease sales will open the floodgates to the exploitation of our deep seas," Julia Singer, Oceana's defense campaign manager, said in a written statement, accusing the administration of continuing "to ignore widespread opposition to this proposal." Oceana said the lease areas lie near Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, a protected area that shelters sea turtles, humpback whales and other species. Environmental groups warn that collecting nodules from the seabed or stripping crusts from underwater rock could destroy habitat and create sediment plumes that reach marine life beyond the immediate mining sites.
The sale also faces a legal challenge. In August, Fa'asao Amerika Samoa filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service in federal court in Hawaii, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The case, brought by Earthjustice lawyers, targets the fisheries service's letter of concurrence agreeing with the Marine Minerals Administration's finding that leasing would not likely harm whales, sea turtles and other protected species. Earthjustice argues the government never seriously weighed what mining itself could do to marine life, the Guam Daily Post reported.
In September, U.S. District Judge Jill Otake refused a government request to delay an Oct. 30 hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, leaving room for a ruling about three weeks before the auction. Government lawyers had argued the suit was filed too early. "If they find it in our favor, then it would be unlawful for the MMA to move forward with the lease sale in November for American Samoa," Earthjustice attorney Harley Broyles told the paper. The case was still active last week, when the fisheries service filed a supplement to the administrative record, and a similar challenge to the planned Northern Mariana Islands sale is before the same judge.
The territory's government has raised its own concerns. American Samoa, a U.S. territory made up of South Pacific islands, counts fisheries as a major part of its economy, and in comments filed during the leasing process Gov. Nikolao Pula asked for stronger environmental monitoring, protections for tuna fisheries and closer oversight of vessels using Pago Pago Harbor. He urged federal officials to weigh the cumulative strain that mining-related ship traffic could place on port infrastructure, waste management and water quality, and he stressed that any future commercial extraction must be considered separately from the lease sale rather than treated as inevitable.
Pula also asked that the territory receive a share of federal mineral leasing revenue. The agency replied that current law gives it no authority to share those revenues, while saying it had incorporated his recommendations where the law permits or would take them up in later regulatory reviews. Its response letter to the governor is posted alongside the final notice.