Stop the First Commercial Deep-Sea Mining Project
The Trump administration is greenlighting the destruction of our oceans, and we need your help to stop it. The Metals Company has recently applied for the first-ever commercial deep-sea mining operation anywhere in the world. The deep sea is home to deep-water corals and food webs that support marine mammals like whales and dolphins, along with countless species we're still discovering.
Mining the ocean floor can cause irreparable damage to delicate and important ecosystems, which are vital to fisheries, economies, and communities around the world.
We should be protecting our oceans, not fast-tracking their destruction.
Add your name to stop deep-sea mining before it is too late!
Petition Letter
Mining the ocean floor can cause irreparable damage to delicate and important ecosystems, which are vital to fisheries, economies, and communities around the world. I strongly oppose The Metals Company’s application for seabed mining exploration and extraction activities under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. These permits should not be approved because of the irreversible damage these activities can cause to the fragile marine ecosystems and the lack of scientific information available on the impacts of these activities.
The waters of the deep sea are still, clear, and quiet. They are home to important habitats, including deep water corals, and support food webs necessary for healthy marine mammals, fish, and other sea creatures. Along with directly destroying marine life and releasing toxic and radioactive materials, deep-sea mining can produce noise and harmful sediment plumes that will destabilize and smother highly sensitive animals and disrupt habitat for commercially important fish species.
Additionally, the vast majority of the ocean is yet to be explored. While approximately 27% of the sea has been mapped, a 2025 study found that less than 0.001% of the deep seafloor – an area only about the size of Rhode Island – has been visually observed.
What is known is that the damage to these seafloor habitats is long lasting. In 2022, the NOAA Ocean Exploration to the Blake Plateau off the Georgia coast showed lasting devastating impacts from deep-sea experimental testing over 50 years prior. If mining permits like those by The Metals Company are approved without fully understanding the impacts, NOAA could be signing off on decades – if not centuries – of damage.
The risks are simply too high to proceed with permits that will have irreversible and devastating impacts. NOAA should be protecting our oceans, not fast-tracking their destruction. We urge NOAA to reject The Metals Company's application.
Sincerely,