Guam Sen. Therese Terlaje has introduced a bill that would outlaw seabed mining in the waters of Guam and allow the port to deny or delay entry to any vessel conducting seabed mining operations.
With exceptions for scientific research and CHamoru cultural reasons, Bill 253-38 would ban “the mining, extraction and removal of minerals from the seabed within territorial marine waters.”
The measure is co-sponsored by Sens. Sabina Perez, Chris Barnett, Telo Taitague, Shelly Calvo and Joe San Agustin.
Last week, the Guam Legislature went into emergency session to pass a resolution opposing the federal government’s plan to allow seabed mining in the waters near the Mariana Trench.
The resolution passed by a vote of 14-0, with Sen. Chris Dueñas absent.
During session, Terlaje recounted testimony from the Bureau of Statistics and Plans stating that “the Marianas Trench and surrounding waters are a global treasure of biodiversity and a cornerstone of our tourism industry and subsistence fishing, that seabed mining poses catastrophic risks to these resources, threatening to decimate coral reefs, fisheries habitats, and undermining island livelihoods, while not providing scientific evidence baseline environmental studies or cultural impact assessments needed to justify or even fully understand the effects of this mining.”
She noted that those who testified earlier in the week on the legal, economic, environmental and cultural impacts of seabed mining were united in their opposition to the proposal.
Guam Department of Agriculture Director Chelsa Muna suggested that Guam could outlaw deep-sea mining, which would “limit the use of Guam's ports and infrastructure to support mining in adjacent federal waters.”
Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington have already enacted such bans.
While states and territories have expressed opposition to seabed mining, the federal government is eager to explore new sources of critical minerals, such as cobalt, copper, and nickel. The minerals are needed for the defense industry, green energy and high-tech electronics.
In November, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sent out a request for comments on a plan to lease 35.5 million acres of seafloor east of the Marianas for mining.
More than 1,500 comments have been submitted on the proposal so far, with the deadline for submission at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 12, Eastern time.
