Trump Explores Deep Sea Mining in American Samoa

Inside Climate News · By Teresa Tomassoni · last updated March 11, 2026 – 1:03 AM

Even as opposition grows and the U.S. territory maintains a moratorium on seabed mining, NOAA began a $20 million survey of surrounding federal waters to help locate deep sea mineral deposits.

By Teresa Tomassoni

The Trump administration is moving to open federal waters surrounding American Samoa to deep-sea mining despite widespread opposition from leaders and environmental advocates from the U.S. territory.

here today, more tomorrow

We’ve launched briefing.center with a focus on the press and media.

And we’ve added Citizen Cartwright, a daily quick-read news summary by veteran Washington journalist Linda Cartwright. We’ve also created a new voting rights knowledge center for Citizen Cartwright subscribers. (You can sign up for a dedicated morning email at citizencartwright.com.)

You can sign up here for full access to press and media and Citizen Cartwright on briefing.center.

You can use briefing.center as the center of your information management, or just one of your tools. We’re happy to discuss your information needs.