Deep-Sea Mining as a Borderline Between Progress and Destruction
On April 24, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that promises nothing less than the industrial conquest of the last untouched region of our planet: the deep sea. In sober language, the order states an intention to “expedite the exploration, collection, and processing of critical minerals.” It sounds like modernization. Like national security. Like economic autonomy. Yet in truth, it may mark the beginning of an ecological and legal catastrophe whose scale we have yet to grasp.
The United States bases its licensing practice on the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA), passed in 1980 and codified in 30 U.S.C. § 1401 ff.. It reads:
“The United States recognizes the need for a stable legal framework for the exploration and commercial recovery of hard mineral resources from the deep seabed.”
This law grants U.S. companies the right to apply for exploration and mining licenses in international waters under the supervision of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The specific regulatory framework is found in Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 970.
Yet while the U.S. unilaterally formulates its interests, it refuses to participate in a central international framework: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This convention has been ratified by 167 states and the EU, but not by the United States. As a result, it does not recognize the authority of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is tasked with regulating deep-sea mining beyond national jurisdiction.
This isolation has consequences. When a Canadian company — as recently occurred — seeks U.S. government permission to mine in international waters, and the ISA warns that such efforts may violate international law, it exposes a legal rift between national interest politics and global responsibility.
The Ecological Front: What We Are About to Destroy
Scientific criticism of deep-sea mining is clear — and existential. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has repeatedly warned of “irreversible damage” should these activities proceed. Stirring up the seabed while extracting polymetallic nodules — typically at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters — destroys fragile ecosystems that have developed over millions of years. The IUCN writes:
“The loss of biodiversity in these largely unexplored habitats may be permanent.”
There is also the stirring of sediments, which can spread over wide areas and disrupt the food web. The potential release of CO₂ and methane from disturbed sediments is increasingly viewed as climatically significant — with potentially measurable effects on global warming.
Legislation Against the Future?
U.S. law does require companies to submit an “environmental impact statement” (15 CFR § 970.204), yet it lacks clearly defined ecological minimum standards for the protection of the deep sea. This amounts to a regulatory vacuum. Environmental review lies — de facto — in the hands of the same authorities being instructed to accelerate exploitation.
Trump himself stated in his order:
“Federal agencies shall expedite the permitting process for commercial deep-sea mining on the Outer Continental Shelf.”
Here, it becomes clear: speed replaces diligence. National sovereignty replaces multilateral coordination. And economic interest replaces ecological discourse.
The Planet as Surplus Stock
Once, the seafloor was taboo. Today, it is a resource, a geostrategic asset, a projection surface for economic hegemony. But its exploitation is not progress — it is regression. An economic race without an ecological goal. Those who dig there, do not merely delve into dark matter, but into moral depth.
What remains is the demand for a global moratorium. No licenses, no dredging tools, no export contracts — until it is clear how we can protect the deep sea before we destroy it. The abyss beneath us is not geological. It is political.
For those who conquer the deep sea without understanding it prove only one thing: that their future lies not beneath the ocean, but beneath the soil — fossilized within a worldview that sees nature not as co-existence, but as a warehouse of raw materials.
Legal References:
Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (30 U.S.C. § 1401 ff.)
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 15, Part 970
Executive Order 14098 (April 2025)
UNCLOS (1982), Articles 137–145
IUCN Reports on Deep-Sea Mining (2022–2024)
NOAA Seabed Mining Regulatory Guide
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