SAIPAN — Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds sought to lower the temperature on the federal seabed leasing push Tuesday, telling residents in a video address posted to Facebook that no one has been given permission to mine the ocean floor around the CNMI and pitching her proposed legislation as an insurance policy for the islands if commercial mining ever happens.
“Nobody has been given permission to start mining the ocean floor around the CNMI. That is not what is happening right now,” King-Hinds said in the video, adding that the leases under consideration would allow only preliminary activities such as mapping, surveys, environmental studies and limited sampling. She noted that federal regulators themselves say a lease does not give anyone the right to mine, and that actual mining would require a separate plan and another environmental review.
Still, King-Hinds said she is paying close attention because of the scale of what is on the table. She described roughly 35 million acres east of the islands and another 33 million acres to the west, and said the western area comes within roughly 57 miles of Saipan. The Proposed Leasing Notice published this week identifies five lease areas totaling about 67.2 million acres.
“While these are federal waters, let’s be real, we’re the people who live next door,” she said. “Our fishermen use this ocean, our culture is connected to this ocean, our environment and our economy depends on this ocean.”
King-Hinds said her position is not about being for or against seabed mining, saying there is not yet enough information to responsibly answer that question. “But what we can decide today,” she said, is that “if the federal government is going to explore the possibility of developing resources surrounding our islands, the CNMI needs a seat at the table from the beginning and we need protection.”
She described her proposed legislation as doing several things. It would bar the federal government from waiving the bonuses, rents or royalties companies are supposed to pay on covered leases. It would require companies to post financial security through a bond, with additional assurance required before production based on the costs of decommissioning and environmental restoration. “In plain English, if you made a mess, our people shouldn’t be left paying to clean up the mess,” she said.
The bill would also require a study of environmental mitigation methods for the types of seabed mining under consideration, with consultation requirements naming Northern Marianas College, the University of Guam and the American Samoa Community College. “Pacific communities shouldn’t be just the subject of the research. Our institutions should be a part of it,” she said.
On revenue, King-Hinds said that if commercial development eventually happens, her proposal would split federal lease revenues evenly, with 50 percent staying in the federal treasury and 50 percent going into an account for the areas where the activity occurs. Those funds could be used for coastal restoration, infrastructure, energy infrastructure, environmental mitigation, or fiscal stabilization and debt reduction, she said. The bill would also require that the governor be notified when certain plans affecting waters adjacent to the CNMI are submitted, with an opportunity to review and comment.
“Introducing these protections does not mean I think that deep sea mining is a good idea or should happen,” she said. “It means that I’m doing my job before the decision ever gets made.”
King-Hinds said the islands have been through this before, with decisions involving local resources made thousands of miles away. “I don’t want us waking up five or ten years from now and discovering that an industry has developed around resources right outside our doorsteps,” she said, and then asking what the CNMI received, or who pays if something goes wrong environmentally.
“It’s not permission to mine,” she said of her legislation. “It’s insurance for our people if that day ever comes.”
