Stop the Pacific Deep-Sea Mining Lease Sale Before It's Too Late

Final signature count: 21

21 signatures toward our 30,000 goal

On December 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior is scheduled to hold a lease sale — designated PACM-2 — that would open approximately 67 million acres of Pacific Ocean floor near the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to commercial deep-sea mining. The communities who live closest to these waters are asking for it to stop. So far, they haven't been heard.

No Precedent. No Impact Statement. No Clear Science.

The targeted seafloor contains mineral-rich formations that have accumulated over millions of years. Mining them would require industrial-scale equipment dragging and cutting through ecosystems we are only beginning to understand. According to the Congressional Research Service, no lease for commercial seabed mining has ever been issued on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, and no full environmental impact statement has been completed for a project of this scope.⁴ The science on sediment plumes, deep-sea habitat destruction, and harm to species protected under the Endangered Species Act remains unresolved. Proceeding without that science means proceeding without answers to questions that matter.

Island Communities Are United in Opposition

This is not a close call for the people who live here. Every mayor in the CNMI signed a joint statement rejecting the proposal, citing threats to fishing, marine ecosystems, and the livelihoods that depend on them.³ Guam, whose waters and fishing grounds border the proposed lease area, has called for formal government-to-government consultation — a request that has not been meaningfully answered.⁶ Even the CNMI governor, without opposing mining outright, has pressed for revenue-sharing agreements and enforceable environmental protections that the current proposal does not include.⁷

A Federal Lawsuit Is Already Pending

In September 2026, CNMI community groups filed a federal lawsuit to halt the sale. The suit argues that the Interior Department failed to conduct adequate environmental review and moved forward without the consent of affected communities.¹ Earthjustice, which supports the legal challenge, contends the process violated federal environmental law, including Endangered Species Act obligations.⁵ A 2025 executive order accelerated permitting timelines for deep-sea mining nationally, but as the Foley Hoag Energy and Climate Counsel Blog notes, critical legal questions around environmental review and Indigenous consultation remain unresolved.²

The December Date Is Not Fixed by Law

The Secretary of the Interior has full authority to cancel or postpone PACM-2. The December 16 deadline is an administrative choice — not a legal requirement. Advocates, mayors, and legal experts are calling for a pause until a full environmental impact analysis is complete, Endangered Species Act consultation is finalized, and the people of the CNMI and Guam have a genuine seat at the table.

Sign the petition urging the Secretary of the Interior to cancel or indefinitely postpone the PACM-2 lease sale before irreversible decisions are made about one of the Pacific's most ecologically significant ocean environments.