Hagåtña, Guam — Acting Governor Joshua F. Tenorio said Thursday that Guam strongly opposes proposals to accelerate permitting for undersea mineral exploration in waters surrounding the Marianas, telling visiting federal officials the island is not interested in serving as a test case for rushed policy decisions.
Tenorio met with officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, joined by cabinet leaders and senior policy staff, to push back against proposals that would shorten review timelines and remove formal notification requirements to Guam’s elected leadership.
Tenorio said Guam does not support compressing review timelines or weakening notification safeguards, arguing that decisions with long-term consequences should not move forward without full transparency and meaningful engagement with the people most affected. He also said GovGuam continues to call for town halls and community consultation before any exploration or mining activity is authorized.
The acting governor framed the issue as broader than regulation alone, saying it touches environmental stewardship, cultural preservation, economic security, and national defense interests in the Western Pacific.
GovGuam also raised concerns about economic claims tied to possible undersea mineral extraction. Tenorio said federal officials discussed potential benefits, but he pointed to what he described as a key legal gap: no identified federal revenue-sharing framework currently guarantees Guam any economic return from extraction activities in federal waters.
Tenorio further said BOEM officials did not present new environmental data addressing previously raised concerns, including sediment plumes, ecosystem disruption, fisheries impacts, and long-term marine habitat degradation.
Although federal representatives suggested that actual mining activity may still be years away, Tenorio said that timeline does not provide enough assurance, warning that federal priorities can shift quickly and that no binding safeguard currently prevents exploration from moving into faster extraction without adequate local consultation.
He also questioned whether federal planners had coordinated with the Department of Defense on operational impacts in a region of growing strategic military activity, or with the Port Authority of Guam to ensure shipping lanes and maritime commerce would not be affected. GovGuam said no clear coordination plan was presented on either front.
Despite Guam’s objections, Tenorio said the meeting was necessary so Guam could make its case directly to federal officials. He said Guam supports innovation and responsible economic opportunity, but not at the expense of environmental security or territorial sovereignty.
