Interior will hold first offshore mining lease sale

Interior will hold first offshore mining lease sale

The Trump administration is officially moving ahead with a decision to lease ocean tracts off the coast of American Samoa for deep-sea mining.

© Fili Sagapolutele, Associated Press file

The decision, announced Monday , would represent the first time the U.S. government has offered up offshore mining leases.

Large-scale deep-sea mining has never been done before, but the seafloor could contain valuable minerals, and the administration is making nearly 32 million acres available for companies to bid on in the hopes of extracting them.

The Trump administration has sought to expand mining both onshore and in the ocean, with the president signing an executive order last year to jump-start the deep-sea mining process.

The lease sale will be held on Nov. 19. Companies that win bids would be authorized to conduct preliminary activities like mapping but would not be automatically allowed to start mining.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

Programming note: I’ll be out of the office tomorrow and Wednesday, so there will be no newsletter. Both the newsletter and I will be back on Thursday.

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How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

The Trump administration is eyeing changes to the structure of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including less “centralization in Washington, D.C.,” according to two recent memos obtained by The Hill.

The Trump administration is giving a defense-related boost to a contentious pipeline in the Northeast U.S.

A federal judge on Monday pressed the Trump administration about President Trump’s plan to shut down and renovate East Potomac Park next month despite a previous court order barring any future work at the property while a lawsuit to stop it plays out.

Democracy Defenders Fund and Reporters Without Borders filed a Hatch Act complaint against three Trump administration officials for campaigning in Alaska with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) earlier this month.

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics :

EPA quietly backtracks on claims US has phased out toxic Pfas compounds ( The Guardian )

State officials offered to store nuclear waste. Then residents found out. ( The Washington Post )

Trump Promoted Suspiciously Cheap Gas Stations. Here’s What He Didn’t Tell You. ( Politico Magazine )

President Trump said Monday he has not yet agreed to a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he said he is open to it. Read more

President Trump and Vice President Vance are placing the blame on immigration for the riots in France that grew violent over the weekend. Read more