The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now recommending a potential offshore lease area on both sides of the Mariana Islands chain, with the closest proposed tracts coming within 57 miles of Saipan and 46 miles of Guam.
The area under consideration has nearly doubled—from 35.5 million acres to about 69 million acres—as BOEM completes the area Identification phase of its Outer Continental Shelf mineral leasing process.
In an announcement Wednesday, BOEM said this phase of the process identifies which offshore tracts will move forward for further leasing consideration and environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. The agency stressed that the decision is not a commitment to lease and does not authorize any mineral development activities.
The CNMI area ID follows BOEM’s Request for Information and Interest issued Nov. 12, 2025, which generated more than 65,000 public submissions from stakeholders, Indigenous communities, territorial leaders, industry representatives and residents.
Despite receiving tens of thousands of comments in opposition, BOEM increased the potential leasing area to an expanse of ocean roughly the size of Nevada.
In response, Angelo Villagomez, a senior fellow for conservation policy at the Center for American Progress, criticized the decision, saying it “ignores the overwhelming concerns voiced by the people and local governments” and advances “an industrial experiment in one of the most biodiverse and culturally significant ocean regions on Earth.”
He warned that deep‑sea mining poses “irreversible risks to fragile ecosystems, fisheries that sustain our communities, and the cultural heritage of the CHamoru and Refaluwasch peoples,” adding that the decision was made “without meaningful consultation or any guarantee that the Indigenous peoples most affected would even be protected, let alone see benefits.”
With Area ID complete, BOEM will prepare an Environmental Assessment to evaluate the potential impacts of issuing leases and authorizing preliminary activities. Those activities—such as bathymetric mapping, geological and geophysical surveys, and limited seabed and biological sampling—are defined as having no significant adverse impact and are intended to support future planning for any potential delineation, testing or mining plan.
The environmental review will include required consultations under federal statutes, including Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, to assess potential effects on cultural and historic resources.
BOEM reiterated that any lease issuance would authorize only early‑stage data collection and not mineral extraction. The agency said it remains committed to a science‑based process that incorporates local knowledge and prioritizes environmental protection while evaluating potential domestic sources of critical minerals important to national security, manufacturing, and advanced energy technologies.
A copy of the CNMI Area ID memorandum, maps, and related materials is available on BOEM’s CNMI webpage.
