WASHINGTON — A Mariana Islands conservation advocate is condemning BOEM’s recommendation to nearly double the deep-sea mining zone around the CNMI, calling it an industrial experiment in one of Earth’s most biodiverse ocean regions.
Angelo Villagomez, a senior fellow for conservation policy at the Center for American Progress, said the expansion ignores more than 65,000 public comments, the vast majority in opposition, and was advanced without meaningful consultation with the Indigenous peoples most affected.
“This decision to advance the largest seabed mining proposal in U.S. history ignores the overwhelming concerns voiced by the people and local governments,” Villagomez said. “It pushes forward an industrial experiment in one of the most biodiverse and culturally significant ocean regions on Earth.”
Villagomez warned that deep-sea mining poses irreversible risks to fragile ecosystems, fisheries that sustain island communities and the cultural heritage of the Chamorro and Refaluwasch peoples.
“Deep-sea mining poses irreversible risks to fragile ecosystems, fisheries that sustain our communities, and the cultural heritage of the Chamorro and Refaluwasch peoples. This decision ignores baseline science and was made without meaningful consultation or any guarantee that the Indigenous peoples most affected would even be protected, let alone see benefits,” he said.
The 69.1 million acre recommendation includes a western zone as close as 57 miles from Saipan and 46 miles from Guam. Scientists have noted that sediment plumes from mining operations can travel hundreds of miles and that deep-sea ecosystems recover extremely slowly if at all. Many species in the proposed lease area remain undiscovered.
