{"id":290430,"date":"2025-04-25T20:06:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/the-trump-administration-wants-seafloor-mining-what-does-that-mean\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T20:06:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:06:04","slug":"the-trump-administration-wants-seafloor-mining-what-does-that-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/the-trump-administration-wants-seafloor-mining-what-does-that-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trump Administration Wants Seafloor Mining. What Does That Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/25\/multimedia\/25cli-seabed-science-01-gkzm\/25cli-seabed-science-01-gkzm-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Trump Administration Wants Seafloor Mining. What Does That Mean?\" title=\"The Trump Administration Wants Seafloor Mining. What Does That Mean?\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Life at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is slow, dark and quiet. Strange creatures glitter and glow. Oxygen seeps mysteriously from lumpy, metallic rocks. There is little to disturb these deep-ocean denizens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s weird life down here,\u201d said Bethany Orcutt, a geomicrobiologist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Research in the deep sea is incredibly difficult given the extreme conditions, and rare given the price tag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, President Trump signed an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/04\/unleashing-americas-offshore-critical-minerals-and-resources\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">executive order<\/a> that aims to permit, for the first time, industrial mining of the seabed for minerals. Scientists have expressed deep reservations that mining could irreversibly harm these deep-sea ecosystems before their value and workings are fully understood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-2179becd\">What\u2019s down there, anyway?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seafloor mining could target three kinds of metal-rich deposits: nodules, crusts and mounds. But right now, it\u2019s all about the nodules. Nodules are of particular value because they contain metals used in the making of electronics, sophisticated weaponry, electric-vehicle batteries and other technologies needed for human development. Nodules are also the easiest seafloor mineral deposit to collect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Economically viable nodules take millions of years to form, sitting on the seafloor the whole time. A nodule is born when a resilient bit of matter, such as a shark tooth, winds up on the ocean floor. Minerals with iron, manganese and other metals slowly accumulate like a snowball. The largest are the size of a grapefruit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Life accumulates on the nodules, too. Microbial organisms, invertebrates, corals and sponges all live on the nodules, and sea stars, crustaceans, worms and other life-forms scuttle around them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">About half of the known life in flat, vast expanses of seafloor called the abyssal plain live on these nodules, said Lisa Levin, an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. But \u201cwe don\u2019t know how widespread species are, or whether if you mine one area, there would be individuals that could recolonize another place,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-1c98801d\">How do you mine the sea?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two main approaches to nodule mining are being developed. One is basically a claw, scraping along the seabed and collecting nodules as it goes. Another is essentially an industrial vacuum for the sea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In both, the nodules would be brought up to ships on the surface, miles above the ocean floor. Leftover water, rock and other debris would be dropped back into the ocean.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both dredging and vacuuming would greatly disturb, if not destroy, the seafloor habitat itself. Removing the nodules also means removing what scientists think is the main habitat for organisms on the abyssal plain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mining activities would also introduce light and noise pollution not only to the seafloor, but also to the ocean surface where the ship would be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of central concern are the plumes of sediment that mining would create, both at the seafloor and<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>at depths around 1,000 meters, which have \u201csome of the clearest ocean waters,\u201d said Jeffrey Drazen, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Sediment plumes, which could travel vast distances, could throw life off in unpredictable ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sediment could choke fish and smother filter-feeders like shrimp and sponges. It could block what little light gets transmitted in the ocean, preventing lanternfish from finding mates and anglerfish from luring prey. And laden with discarded metals, there\u2019s also a chance it could pollute the seafood that people eat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHow likely is it that we would contaminate our food supply?\u201d Dr. Drazen said. Before mining begins, \u201cI really would like an answer to that question. And we don\u2019t have one now.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-47f69f66\">What do mining companies say?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mining companies say that they are developing sustainable, environmentally friendly deep-sea mining approaches through research and engagement with the scientific community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Their research has included basic studies of seafloor geology, biology and chemistry, documenting thousands of species and providing valuable deep-sea photos and video. Interest in seafloor mining has supported research that might have been challenging to fund otherwise, Dr. Drazen said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Preliminary tests of recovery equipment have provided some insights into foreseeable effects of their practices like sediment plumes, although modeling can only go so far in predicting what would happen once mining reached a commercial scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Impossible Metals, a seafloor mining company based in California, is developing an underwater robot the size of a shipping container that uses artificial intelligence to hand pick nodules without larger organisms, an approach it claims minimizes sediment plumes and biological disturbance. The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea mining company, in 2022 successfully recovered roughly 3,000 tons of nodules from the seafloor, collecting data on the plume and other effects in the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Metals Company in March announced that it would seek a permit for seafloor mining through NOAA, circumventing the International Seabed Authority, the United Nations-affiliated organization set up to regulate seafloor mining. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gerard Barron, the company\u2019s chief executive, said in an interview on Thursday that the executive order was \u201cnot a shortcut\u201d past environmental reviews and that the company had \u201ccompleted more than a decade of environmental research.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said the United States would abide by two American laws that govern deep-sea exploration and commercial activities in U.S. waters and beyond. \u201cBoth of these laws require comprehensive environmental impact assessments and compliance with strong environmental protection standards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-31dadea4\">What are the long-term risks?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many scientists remain skeptical that enough is known about seafloor mining\u2019s environmental effects to move forward. They can only hypothesize about the long-term consequences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Disrupting the bottom of the food chain could have ripple effects throughout the ocean environment. An extreme example, Dr. Drazen said, would be if <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/03\/climate\/plankton-ocean-warming.html\" title=\"\">sediment diluted the food supply of plankton<\/a>. In that case they could starve, unable to scavenge enough organic matter from a cloud of sea dust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tiny plankton are a fundamental food source, directly or indirectly, for almost every creature in the ocean, up to and including whales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Part of the challenge in understanding potential effects is that the pace of life is slow on the seafloor. Deep-sea fish can live hundreds of years. Corals can live thousands. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a different time scale of life,\u201d Dr. Levin said. \u201cThat underpins some of the unknowns about responses to disturbances.\u201d It\u2019s hard for humans to do 500-year-long experiments to understand if or when ecosystems like these can bounce back or adapt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And there are no guarantees of restoring destroyed habitats or mitigating damage on the seafloor. Unlike mining on land, \u201cwe don\u2019t have those strategies for the deep sea,\u201d Dr. Orcutt said. \u201cThere\u2019s not currently scientific evidence that we can restore the ecosystem after we\u2019ve damaged it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some scientists question the need for seafloor mining at all, saying that mines on land could meet growing demand for metals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Proponents of deep-sea mining have claimed that its environmental or carbon footprint would be smaller than traditional mining for those same minerals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere has been no actual recovery of minerals to date,\u201d said Amy Gartman, an ocean researcher who leads the United States Geological Survey seabed minerals team, referring to commercial-scale mining. \u201cWe\u2019re comparing theoretical versus actual, land-based mining practices. If and when someone actually breaks ground on one of these projects, we\u2019ll get a better idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Eric Lipton<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/25\/climate\/seafloor-mining-science.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is slow, dark and quiet. Strange creatures glitter and glow. Oxygen seeps mysteriously from lumpy, metallic rocks. There is little to disturb these deep-ocean denizens. \u201cThere\u2019s weird life down here,\u201d said Bethany Orcutt, a geomicrobiologist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Research in the deep sea is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/25\/multimedia\/25cli-seabed-science-01-gkzm\/25cli-seabed-science-01-gkzm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9150,164047,173190,23784,17434,164578,164577,23941,145220,191397,23186,52],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290432,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290430\/revisions\/290432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}