PROTECT VIRGINIA'S COAST FROM DESTRUCTIVE MINING
Ocean mining is an extremely destructive process. One type currently being proposed off Virginia’s coast, called heavy mineral sands mining, removes large amounts of seafloor, destroys the ocean’s bottom, and can release metals and pollutants into coastal waters. Sand is stirred up in the water during the removal process, which disrupts how marine mammals, seabirds, and many fish species forage for food.
Virginia is the U.S. east coast’s largest seafood producer. Commercial fishing, tourism, and recreation businesses — and the millions of people who visit Virginia’s beaches and coastlines every year — rely on clean and healthy waters. But the proposed ocean mining puts all of that at risk for a chance at mining minerals that are found elsewhere.
The Atlantic Ocean deserves to be enjoyed, not exploited.
Use your voice today to urge the federal government to abandon any plans to lease our ocean to mining companies.
Petition Letter
To the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management:
Please accept this letter as a statement of my firm opposition to the proposed ocean mining off Virginia's coast. This push to mine the ocean off Virginia would be the first project of its kind in federal waters. If this project is allowed, it will set a dangerous precedent that could open up all U.S. oceans to destructive mining practices. We should not be exploiting our oceans for a ruinous mining project that puts our coastal economies, commercial fisheries, and way of life at risk.
Virginia has one of the country’s most productive fisheries – that depends on clean, healthy waters. More than 6000 Virginians work on the water as part of the commercial fishing industry, and the state’s fisheries are third most productive in the U.S. by volume. Heavy mineral sands mining could jeopardize that.
The proposed sand mining would remove an enormous amount of seafloor and life that lives on it. This mining would destroy the ocean's bottom and can release metals and other pollutants into coastal waters. The sand stirred up into the water column can disrupt foraging seabirds, marine mammals, and many species of fish.
The increased vessel traffic and disturbance in the water from this type of mining can also disrupt marine mammals. From the North Atlantic right whales that will migrate through this area with their newborn calves to some dolphin species that call Virginia home year-round, mining vessels should not be allowed to threaten this important habitat.
If approved here, mining could expand beyond Virginia. The Atlantic Ocean, and the entire U.S. coastline, should not be sold off to mining companies.
I urge BOEM to stop the leasing process for mineral mining off the coast of Virginia.
Sincerely,
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