Oct 20, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Haleemah Atobiloye (she/her) | Communications Strategist | haleemaha@cehn.org | (202) 350-137
Deep sea mining relies on unproven technology, and it threatens ecosystems scientists have barely begun to explore. We ask the Trump administration to withdraw the Final Leasing Notice, halt the November 19 auction, and engage meaningfully with the people of American Samoa and all affected communities, as the agency itself claims to prioritize, before taking any further action on deep sea mining.
WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, October 19, 2026, the Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), the agency created in July 2026 by merging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), issued its Final Leasing Notice for the American Samoa Outer Continental Shelf Pacific Mineral Lease Sale 1 (PACM-1). The auction, set for November 19, 2026, offers more than 31 million acres of seabed offshore American Samoa for deep sea mining in what MMA calls the first offshore mineral lease sale in U.S. history.
“Protecting the ocean is an American issue, not simply a territorial one. 30% of all U.S. oceans are in the territories. The people who live there have been organizing against this from the beginning, and the opposition has grown to involve many of us across the country. The communities of American Samoa have spoken clearly and consistently: they do not want deep sea mining in their waters. More than 76,000 comments were submitted on the federal government’s 2025 request for information, the overwhelming majority opposing deep sea mining in American Samoa. The Trump administration is moving ahead anyway,” says Suraida Nañez-James, Co-Lead, Ocean for All Workgroup, America the Beautiful for All.
Unjust resource extraction does not stop in one place. American Samoa is first in line. MMA has already proposed a December 16 lease sale off the Northern Mariana Islands, and seabed mining has been proposed off Alaska and Virginia. Colonialism also does not stop in one place. Extraction in the U.S. territories is being imposed on communities that have no vote in Congress and limited power to stop it. The auction itself will be closed to the public. It will take place at a county fire department headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, roughly 5,000 miles from the people of American Samoa.
Our ocean is not for sale. We will continue supporting our partners in the courts, in Congress, and in communities across the country until our government listens.
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About Us
The America the Beautiful for All Coalition unites 300+ organizations across missions, ecosystems, communities, and cultures to steward nature while upholding environmental justice and defending public health. We follow the leadership of the communities closest to the lands, waters, and wildlife under threat.
