The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has taken the first steps to explore leasing areas for deep-sea mining offshore American Samoa, following a request from mining company Impossible Metals. This plan contradicts the unified opposition to deep-sea mining from the American Samoa Government and ignores Executive Order  006‑2024, which puts a moratorium on this extractive activity in the waters and Exclusive Economic Zone of American Samoa.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has extended the Request for Interest and Information to a 60-day public comment period through August 15, 2025, to request public input on the proposal to authorize harmful seabed mining in American Samoa’s 200-mile Economic Zone. 

Stand with American Samoa in opposing this proposal to lease their waters for harmful deep-sea mining and extraction, which puts their ocean, fisheries, and communities at risk.