The federal government announced July 16 it will hold the first-ever competitive auction of deep-sea mineral rights in the Pacific, offering 31.5 million acres of seabed surrounding American Samoa to private bidders as early as November 19, 2026 — while skipping a full environmental impact review and sidelining the United Nations body that has governed international seabed mining for decades.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's Proposed Leasing Notice for sale PACM-1 marks a sharp break from longstanding U.S. deference to the Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority, which has been negotiating global mining rules for years. Instead, BOEM is proceeding under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, completing only a limited Environmental Assessment rather than a full Environmental Impact Statement — a shorter, less rigorous review that critics say is inadequate for an untested industry in fragile Pacific waters. More than 75,000 public comments opposing the plan have been submitted, and community, scientific, and international voices are drawing a hard line.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management published its Proposed Leasing Notice (PLN) for PACM-1 on July 16, 2026, formally advancing the plan toward a competitive lease sale it has tentatively scheduled for November 19, 2026 as an ascending oral auction — the first of its kind in the Pacific Ocean.

Two lease blocks are on offer: Lease Area 1, covering approximately 16.3 million acres, and Lease Area 2, covering approximately 15.2 million acres, for a combined total of roughly 31.5 million acres of Outer Continental Shelf territory surrounding American Samoa. The leases would grant rights to develop polymetallic nodules and ferromanganese crust deposits — seafloor accumulations of copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese prized for military hardware, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics — but explicitly exclude oil, gas, and fissionable materials.

The procedural pathway BOEM chose is notable. The agency invoked the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act rather than any international treaty framework, since the United States has never ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The U.S. International Seabed Authority, which oversees deep international waters and has been drafting mining regulations for years, was bypassed. BOEM also opted for a limited Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act rather than a full Environmental Impact Statement — meaning it analyzed only "preliminary activities" such as surveys, not actual mining, according to the agency's own site.

The process has been methodical. BOEM published a Request for Information in the Federal Register on June 16, 2025. It identified the specific areas for leasing consideration on November 10, 2025. And it completed its environmental review in tandem with publication of the PLN in July 2026. If no major roadblocks emerge, a Final Leasing Notice will be published at least 30 days before a sale — putting the real deadline sometime in October 2026.

The Trump administration has been explicit about why it is moving quickly. Acting Director of the U.S. Marine Minerals Administration Matt Giacona said in a statement that "Critical minerals have become a strategic asset in global competition, and China's dominance in the supply of many of these materials creates unacceptable risks for America's energy, defense and manufacturing sectors," according to an Associated Press report by Dánica Coto.

More than 43 countries have called for a moratorium or ban on deep-sea mining globally, citing warnings from marine scientists that seafloor extraction can unleash sediment plumes, disruptive noise, and light pollution that devastate ecosystems taking millions of years to form.

American Samoa's territorial government has already drawn its own line: former Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga signed an executive order in July 2024 imposing a moratorium on seabed mining within the territory's 3-nautical-mile coastal zone. But that executive order does not reach the broader Exclusive Economic Zone — the ocean territory from 3 to 200 nautical miles offshore — which Washington controls and where the BOEM lease blocks sit.

Community group Fa'asao Amerika Samoa has been among the most vocal opponents. Spokesperson Seumalu Elora Raymond said in a statement that the administration is "ignoring the voices of the very people whose waters, traditions, and livelihoods are on the line," and vowed: "We will not stand by while an untested industry threatens to destroy American Samoa's environment and cultural heritage for corporate profit," according to the AP report.

The scientific opposition includes at least one Bay Area voice. Utumapu Dr. Andrew Pati Ah Young — Director of Discovery Biology at Dren Bio, a South San Francisco biopharmaceutical firm — is a founding member of Fa'asao Amerika Samoa. His dual role as a working research scientist and Samoan community organizer places the dispute at an unusual intersection of Pacific Indigenous rights and American biotech culture.

BOEM said it will publish the Final Leasing Notice in the Federal Register at least 30 days before any sale, and that American Samoa's current Governor, Pula'ali'i Nikolao Pula, holds a formal 60-day comment period before BOEM decides whether to proceed. The clock is running.