deep sea mining
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A message posted on social media is criticizing the grant award that the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior Katherine MacGregor announced during her American Samoa Flag Day speech on April 17, 2026. The award of $270,000 she said is to the American Samoa...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An article looking at deep-sea mining (DSM) and how decisions about the ocean are made for American Samoa focusing on the Deeds of Cession of 1900 and 1904 and how decisions about our ocean are still connected to those agreements has recently been published in the ...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Last week, Pacific leaders flocked to Honolulu in hopes of making a deal with the United States.
The "Pacific Agenda" investment summit was followed with a visit of US officials to Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. Leading them was Christopher Landau, deputy to Marco Rubio.
Among a...
To the Editor,
Federal agencies are moving closer to decisions about deep-sea mining near American Samoa.
This raises an important public question:
At what point do these actions implicate the United States’ obligations under the Deeds of Cession?
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A push to mine waters around American Samoa without consent, a board appointed by the president dictating government decisions in Puerto Rico, and the removal of immigration controls from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were all issues highlighted by a...
WASHINGTON D.C. — (January 21, 2026) Today, NOAA announced revisions to the regulations for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permit applications under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA), a widely anticipated milestone in NOAA’s effort to streamline the deep seabed...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — (January 22, 2026) The United States is ramping up efforts to secure domestic sources of critical minerals with a major new seabed mapping initiative in the Pacific, part of a broader push to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and counter China’s growing influence...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — When the United States recently escalated its confrontation with Venezuela - carrying out strikes in Caracas and capturing President Nicolás Maduro — the moves were framed as political intervention.
But the raid also reflected a deeper contest over oil and critical...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Metals Company spoke out recently saying at the dawn of the deep-sea nodule collection industry nearly fifty years ago, U.S. companies tested a range of nodule-collection technologies. These early pioneers understood the challenges, and their choices reflected the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — During a webinar hosted by Right to Democracy and the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, civil society organizations from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands announced they and their national partners collected over 60,000 petitions, letters, and comments in...

![A message posted on social media is criticizing the US grant award to ASG for education and outreach on critical issues, including deep-sea minerals. [fb graphic reproduced with permission from Ti’a Reid] US grant award to ASG for education and outreach on critical issues](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/messenger_creation_c81af9ce-6004-4f3b-a63d-358507e163f9.jpeg?itok=cCT5tDak)




![While the U.S. can authorize mining within its territorial waters, international waters present complex jurisdictional issues. The International Seabed Authority, established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea—which the U.S. has not ratified—continues to debate standards for deep-sea mining, particularly regarding environmental impacts. [photo: PINA] Critical minerals areas](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/deep_sea_mining_areas.jpg?itok=rMW8qKSY)

![Back in 1978, the Ocean Minerals Company (OMCO) developed an Archimedes-screw-drive system that dug deep into the sediment for traction. Allseas approached the problem differently, designing the new collector with wide snowcat-style tracks and deepwater buoyancy to distribute weight evenly, enabling it to move gently across the seafloor. [courtesy photos] OLD VS NEW](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/old_vs_new.png?itok=LYdWI5zC)
