First Deep-Sea Mining Company Asks Trump for International Permit
that industrial operations on the ocean floor could cause irreversible biodiversity loss.Any country can allow deep-sea mining in its own territorial waters, roughly up to 200 nautical miles from shore, and companies are already lining up to mine U.S. waters.Vancouver-based The Metals Co asked the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980 to operate in part of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.The application was timed to coincide
Impossible Metals Seeks Mining Lease Near American Samoa
off the coast of American Samoa.The waters around the Pacific Ocean territory are estimated to contain large amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles and electronics.The request from privately held Impossible Metals asks the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management - which oversees mineral deposits in federal waters - to launch a competitive lease process for the American Samoa nodules.A BOEM spokesperson confirmed the request and said the agency will decide by May 23 "whether to initiate steps
HII Delivers Initial Lionfish UUVs to U.S. Navy
.Lionfish is based on HII’s REMUS 300 platform, a modular, open-architecture SUUV engineered for multi-mission adaptability and the program was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), to accelerate the adoption of dual-use commercial technologies into U.S. Department of Defense programs.The Lionfish SUUV is a cyber-compliant uncrewed underwater vehicle.HII was awarded the U.S. Navy’s Lionfish system program contract in 2023, and production of the Lionfish is underway at HII’s Uncrewed Systems facility in Pocasset.The U.S. Navy’s selection
DoD Looks for Advance Underwater Communication Solutions
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has announced funding opportunities as part of the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge 2025 for commercial technologies to solve undersea and information warfare issues.As the second collaboration launched between the U.S.'s Defense Innovation Unit, Australia's Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, and the UK's Defence and Security Accelerator, the Challenge is seeking commercial companies with solutions that will enhance the tactical and operational capabilities of undersea command, control and communications while maintaining the integrity and
White House Could Bypass UN on Deep-Sea Mining
over acceptable levels of dust, noise and other factors from the practice.Trump's deep-sea mining order is likely to stipulate that the U.S. aims to exercise its rights to extract critical minerals on the ocean's floor and let miners bypass the ISA and seek permitting through the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's mining code, according to the sources.Such a step could give mining companies a formal permitting process to complete and avoid the potential perception that they aim to mine the ocean's floors without any oversight.The
Oceaneering Nets US Gov Maritime Mobility System Deal
Oceaneering International, via its Aerospace and Defense Technologies (ADTech) segment, has been awarded a multi-year contract by the U.S. Department of Defense to design, build, test, and deliver a maritime mobility system.Oceaneering said it has been down-selected from multiple teams, without revealing any additional details.“We are pleased to have secured this contract with the Department of Defense which, at the time of award, is the largest initial contract value in Oceaneering’s history.“This award demonstrates the cross-industry application of our maritime technology, highlights
Shipbuilding RFP Issued to Build Hydrogen-Hybrid Research Vessel
interested in submitting proposals can contact Lynda Ta at [email protected] or Gary Oshima at [email protected]. Proposals will be accepted through May 9, 2025, with a final selection expected by June 20, 2025.Funding for CCRV comes from the State of California, the U.S. Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Energy, as part of the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), California’s clean hydrogen initiative. Initial feasibility studies were conducted by Sandia National Laboratories and Glosten, with support from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime
DOI Implements GoM Name Change
As directed by the President, the US Department of Interior (DOI) has announced that Gulf of Mexico (GoM) will officially be known as the Gulf of America.The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect the change, effective immediately for federal use. “The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the most vital assets in the Nation’s history and economy. Spanning over 1,700 miles of U.S. coastline
Wind Patterns Help Predict Low Antarctic Sea Ice
currents.As summer arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, the current sea ice extent remains sparse around Antarctica, close to a record low for this time of the year.The study was published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment and was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy
February 2025
