Plaintiffs invoke Endangered Species Act over American Samoa seabed leases
The legal nonprofit Earthjustice sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, a month after the Trump administration announced plans to auction off massive sections of water surrounding American Samoa for potential deep-sea mining. The federal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, names the National Marine Fisheries Service and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as defendants.
Earthjustice filed the suit on behalf of two groups: Fa’asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai’i. The complaint asks a judge to order the fisheries service to halt the auction and to comply with the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.
According to the lawsuit, the U.S. plans to sell leases with the intention of allowing mining across some 33 million acres — about 51,560 square miles — of seabed off American Samoa. The seabed is rich in nickel, cobalt and manganese, minerals used to build batteries, electronics and other products.
“The United States has never opened its waters to deep-sea mining. Until now,” the lawsuit stated.