Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Greenlighting of International Deep-Sea Mining Exploration Permit

Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) certification of a seabed mineral exploration application from The Metals Company USA.  

This is the first certification of an application to conduct deep-sea mining exploration under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA) since President Trump took office. Several other applications are pending. An exploration license is the first step that a U.S. company must take under DSHMRA to obtain U.S. approval to mine in international waters.  

The lawsuit, filed by Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, challenges NOAA for violating DSHMRA’s procedural requirements meant to ensure transparency and public participation. Notably, the agency failed to make any relevant materials available for public review, including studies on the effects of the proposed activities and information on whether The Metals Company USA meets the statutory requirements for a license.  

“NOAA short-circuited the law in its haste to jump-start an untested, speculative industry seeking to mine our ocean’s most undisturbed places. We’re asking the courts to pump the brakes to ensure legally required public transparency and accountability before this administration gives mining companies free reign over our oceans,” said Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton. 

“Upholding procedural requirements prior to issuing permits for deep sea mining exploration is imperative to the health of the ocean and the communities that depend on its resources.  The Pacific Ocean is home to many endangered and unknown species, unexplored ocean floors, and seamounts. These important and fragile ecosystems will be disturbed from noise and light pollution, sediment, and other toxic contaminants. Not only does the planet’s marine creatures and plants depend on a healthy ocean: we all do,” said Jonee Peters, Executive Director of the Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi. 

“Trump has no right to rush into decisions about plundering international waters. It’s especially outrageous that the public hasn’t been able to examine the details of this deep-sea mining proposal, which should be completely transparent,” said Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have so much to lose by unleashing destructive mining practices onto these incredible ocean ecosystems. We have to ensure sea life gets the protection it deserves.” 

Deep-sea mining proposes to extract metals from some of the deepest parts of the ocean. Scientists believe biodiversity loss and habitat destruction will be unpreventable and irreversible if mining using the proposed methods were to advance at scale. In addition to direct habitat destruction, deep-sea mining and exploration will generate noise and light pollution, sediment plumes, wastewater, and residual toxic heavy metals that could drift far from the actual mining sites and contaminate the water column and nearby ecosystems. 

Background 

In 1980, Congress passed DSHMRA to create what was intended to be an interim authority for NOAA to manage U.S. seabed mineral exploration and mining in international waters until they were regulated by an international treaty. When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea went into effect in 1994, it established the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to regulate seabed exploration and mining in international waters. Since the United States never ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, DSHMRA continues to offer a licensing pathway to U.S. companies. 

The ISA has not yet authorized commercial deep-sea mining. The Metals Company USA is seeking unilateral authorization from the United States to conduct deep seabed mineral exploration and mining under DSHMRA. The company applied to NOAA in July 2025 for two DSHMRA licenses to conduct mineral exploration activities in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone—an area of the Pacific between Hawai‘i and Mexico that is under ISA jurisdiction. Before The Metals Company USA’s application, no other company had proposed to conduct at-sea exploration activities under DSHMRA.