Groups Sue to Block U.S. Deep‑Sea Mining Lease Off American Samoa

Overview

• Earthjustice filed a federal lawsuit in Hawaii against NOAA Fisheries and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on behalf of Fa‘asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i seeking to stop the planned lease sale.
• The complaint argues agencies failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act and did not conduct adequate environmental review of harms to turtles, whales, giant manta rays, corals and other marine life.
• The planned lease would cover roughly 31–33 million acres of seabed around American Samoa and targets nodules that contain nickel, cobalt and manganese used in batteries and other products.
• The administration has pushed the program to secure domestic mineral supplies, but the litigation creates an immediate legal barrier that could delay or halt the planned auction while courts weigh agency obligations.
• No country has yet permitted commercial deep‑sea mining and the International Seabed Authority has only authorized exploration, so the U.S. sale could set a domestic precedent with large ecological and policy risks from sediment plumes, noise and habitat loss.