The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) holds the responsibility for issuing licenses for exploration and permits for commercial recovery of polymetallic nodules from the deep seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction through the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA). Currently, the NOAA is proposing revisions to consolidate the license and permit review process for companies. You can read more about the proposed revisions here.
Our team has taken a stance on this issue to oppose the revisions to the DSHMRA. These revisions are aligned to expedite the President’s Executive Order (E.O) 14285. We believe the processes for obtaining the exploration license and the commercial recovery permit should remain separate because it ensures diligence in the review process before enacting harm to the ocean.
We call upon our community to support and stand in opposition:
- Sign onto our community open letter. Share the open letter with your friends and family!
- Create a copy of the letter and submit it on your own to the regulations.gov website
- Follow @socalpicrt_pacificpower for updates, and reshare content on deep sea mining.
The deadline to submit public comment is tonight, September 5th, at 8:59pm PT, 11:59pm ET.
