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Deadline to comment on Deep Seabed Mining Exploration and Recovery Applications 10/19/26
Deadline Monday, Oct 19th, –deep seabed mining regulations
The Action: Following a rewrite of deep seabed mining regulations earlier in the year, NOAA has formally accepted a massive consolidated application from The Metals Company USA, LLC (TMC USA). The application seeks federal exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits to mine the ocean floor for hard minerals. This is heavily focused on regions near Clarton-Clipperton Zone in international waters.
NOAA is holding a virtual public hearing on October 13, 2026, and gathering oral public environmental input. The deadline to register has closed & we think only registered folks can attend, but we believe a recording will eventually be available
Comment Deadline: October 19, 2026. (Virtual Public Hearing scheduled for October 13, 2026)
Federal Register Notice: 91 FR 53608 – Deep Seabed Mining; Notice of Receipt of Consolidated Application
Unique Comment Submission Link: Regulations.gov Docket NOAA-NOS- 2026-1751
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What’s at stake: The Clarion-Clipperton Zone, between Hawaii and Mexico, is a deep-sea plain three miles down, scattered with mineral nodules that grow a few millimeters per million years. Mining machines would scrape up the nodules and the top layer of seafloor, wiping out animals that live nowhere else, most of them not yet even named by scientists. Test tracks from small experiments decades ago still haven’t recovered. Sediment clouds stirred up by the machines would spread far beyond the mined areas.
The mining ship would also dump sediment-laden wastewater back into the ocean at mid-depths, where tuna, swordfish and other fish feed. University of Hawaiʻi researchers found this could cloud the water and starve the small animals at the base of that food web. The area overlaps major Pacific tuna fishing grounds, and whales and sea turtles migrate through it.
Why other nations care: The open ocean belongs to no single country, and its fish, currents and ecosystems are shared by everyone. Damage in international waters can affect other nations’ fisheries and food supplies, especially Pacific island nations that depend heavily on tuna. That’s why the world agreed that decisions about mining the deep seabed should be made together, with rules to protect the environment and share any benefits, rather than by whichever country moves first.
Why this matters internationally: Almost every nation, including our closest allies, has joined the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which treats the deep seabed beyond national borders as the “common heritage of mankind” and assigns mining decisions to the International Seabed Authority. The U.S. never ratified the treaty, largely because of objections to its seabed mining rules, even though those rules were rewritten in 1994 to meet U.S. demands. The International Seabed Authority has not yet adopted environmental rules for commercial mining, and dozens of countries support a pause until the science is in.
The Metals Company spent years seeking approval through that international system, then turned to NOAA after a 2025 executive order opened a U.S. route under a 1980 law. Many nations and the Seabed Authority say unilateral U.S. permits for international waters would violate international law.
OPPOSE THESE PERMITS
Please tell NOAA to deny these permits and urge the U.S. to work through the international process instead. Comments are due by Monday, October 19, 2026.
Pre-fabricated letter:
1. Surfrider Foundation,
Action alert: https://surfrider.advocacyai.com/action/rejectseabedmininginpacific
It submits a comment to NOAA, and members can click “edit my message” to personalize it. Surfrider’s page also has sample talking points for anyone who wants to write their own. Background page: https://www.surfrider.org/news/massive-seabed-mining-project-proposed-in-the-pacific-take-action
Deep ocean starts at 200 meters, Chart on ocean depths is attached – chart by NOAA.