Mark Rabago
RNZ Pacific CNMI correspondent
Pacific leaders and
environmental advocates have condemned a United States
government proposal to advance plans for an offshore mineral
lease sale in federal waters off American Samoa.
They
say the move – despite about 70,000 public comments
submitted during the process opposing offshore mineral
extraction – disregards widespread public opposition and
threatens the region’s culture, livelihoods and marine
environment.
The criticism followed the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) announcement that it had
issued a Proposed
Leasing Notice for the American Samoa Outer Continental
Shelf Pacific Mineral Lease Sale 1, a key procedural
step toward a potential lease sale currently proposed for 19
November.
Under the proposed process, American Samoa
Governor Pulaali’i Nikolao Pula has 60 days to review and
comment before BOEM may issue a ‘Final Leasing
Notice’.
Dr Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka of Finafinau in
American Samoa said the proposal was about more than mineral
extraction.
“They can schedule a lease sale. They
cannot lease our identity.”
“The moana has never been
just a place on a map or minerals beneath the sea floor. The
moana is our first teacher, our source of life, and our
greatest inheritance,” she added.
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Suluai-Mahuka said
the ocean should be valued “by the families it feeds, the
cultures it sustains, and the children it will one day
nourish”,
“Our home is not for sale.”
Maria
Hernandez of the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance in Guam
said the proposal highlighted broader concerns over
representation in the US territories.
“When decisions
about our communities’ sacred waters and ecosystems are made
in Washington without equal representation, it exposes the
undemocratic system imposed across the US
territories.”
“Our voices deserve to be heard,” she
said.
“The people of the Marianas stand with American
Samoa. Hands off our sacred seabed, Prutehi i Mattingan
(Chamoru language) translates to “protect the deep waters
just beyond the reef”
Adi Martinez Roman of Right to
Democracy in Puerto Rico called the proposal “a
disappointing step in the wrong direction”.
“For the
people of the US territories, the ocean is more than a
resource to be extracted. It is a sacred ocean space that
connects us to our culture, identity, and future,” Roman
said.
He added communities were calling for
“stewardship and self-determination” instead of unilateral
federal action.
Friends of the Mariana Trench chair
Sheila Babauta said Pacific Islanders had consistently
opposed offshore mineral extraction.
“Communities
across the Pacific have made their voices clear: our ocean
is not for sale.”
She said the proposal prioritised
“the interests of an extractive industry ahead of the people
who depend on the ocean for our culture, livelihoods, and
way of life”, urging broader support for Pacific communities
seeking “a different vision for our future, one rooted in
stewardship, community leadership, and respect for the
places that sustain us”.
Angelo Villagomez of the
Center for American Progress said opposition extended beyond
the Pacific.
“This proposal is out of step with what
communities actually want.”
He said Americans
increasingly recognised “our ocean is too important to
gamble with for an industry that carries significant
environmental risks”, and urged BOEM to listen to Pacific
communities rather than advance a proposal “that lacks broad
public support.”
A strategic asset
BOEM,
through the Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), said the
Proposed Leasing Notice advances the federal leasing process
for offshore critical minerals while supporting domestic
supply chains and national security.
Acting MMA
director Matt Giacona said “critical minerals have become a
strategic asset in global competition, and China’s dominance
in the supply of many of these materials creates
unacceptable risks for America’s energy, defense and
manufacturing sectors.”
He said the proposal would
also require any successful lessee to make “every reasonable
effort” to hire American Samoans, use businesses in American
Samoa and make use of the Port of Pago Pago.
BOEM said
issuing the Proposed Leasing Notice does not guarantee that
a lease sale will be held or that any exploration or
collection activities will ultimately occur.
Instead,
the notice allows the remaining pre-sale requirements to
proceed, including publication of a Final Leasing Notice at
least 30 days before any sale should the agency decide to
move forward.
BOEM also said it had completed an
environmental assessment examining the potential impacts of
issuing two commercial leases in federal waters off American
Samoa.
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