Companies use Trump's executive order as a loophole to fast-track commercial seafloor mining

Insider

Donald Trump's executive order circumvents the International Seabed Authority's control of international waters. Mining companies are seizing the moment, while activists believe they'll pollute the ocean.

Transcript

00:00Did you know that huge parts of the deep ocean floor are covered with potato-sized rocks

00:05packed with minerals that are crucial for electric car batteries, wind turbines, and

00:10solar panels?

00:11We're talking billions of tons of poly-metallic nodules that contain nickel, cobalt, and copper.

00:18President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that could fast-track commercial

00:23deep-sea mining, and a Canadian startup, The Metals Company, seized the moment to apply

00:28for a permit to start mining in U.S.-controlled waters.

00:32The company already spent $500 million proving deep-sea mining can work.

00:38It's already collected and processed a huge haul of the deep-sea nodules.

00:42This is history.

00:43I've never stood in this.

00:45No one has.

00:46The International Seabed Authority, which is supposed to be in charge of regulating deep-sea

00:51mining since 1994, says that Trump's order circumvents its control of resources in international

00:57waters.

00:58The seafloor in the remote parts of the ocean is one of the least explored ecosystems on

01:03the planet.

01:04They're filled with creatures we hardly know, like this never-before-seen octopus,

01:08plus sea cucumbers, fish, and stuff we don't even have a name for yet.

01:14Scientists are rushing to study these ecosystems before mining kicks off.

01:18While companies argue that seafloor mining is cleaner than mining on land, activists strongly

01:23disagree.

01:24Stop plundering the seafloor.

01:27Greenpeace provided footage to Business Insider, showing what they say is evidence of the metals

01:31company already polluting the ocean with gunk they sucked up from the seafloor.

01:37What we do know is that mining metals on land can have devastating effects.

01:42In order to have electric cars, you need certain minerals, and one of those is cobalt.

01:47The cobalt rush in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been linked to human rights abuses,

01:52including the use of child labor.

01:54So, is deep sea mining worth the risk?

01:57Or are we diving into trouble?

01:59You can see the full story we did on this a few years ago on Business Insider's YouTube

02:03channel.

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