I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 664
To prohibit certain mining activities on the deep seabed and Outer
Continental Shelf, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. C
ASE(for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. TLAIB) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources
A BILL
To prohibit certain mining activities on the deep seabed
and Outer Continental Shelf, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Seabed Pro-4
tection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN MINING ACTIVITIES ON 6
DEEP SEABED AND OUTER CONTINENTAL 7
SHELF. 8
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 9
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 664 IH
(1) As determined by the United Nations, most 1
recently in its Sustainable Development Goals re-2
port, our world’s oceans are at great risk from a 3
number of factors, including atmospheric change, re-4
source extraction, and pollution. 5
(2) The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sus-6
tainable Development, launched by the 2015 UN 7
Summit in New York established Sustainable Devel-8
opment Goal 14 (SDS 14), to conserve and 9
sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine re-10
sources. Target 2 of SDS 14 commits States to 11
sustainably manage marine ecosystems to avoid sig-12
nificant adverse impacts and strengthen their resil-13
ience. 14
(3) The international marine scientific and pol-15
icy consensus is that deep seabed mining presents a 16
major risk to the marine environment, including— 17
(A) the direct loss of unique and eco-18
logically important species; 19
(B) large sediment plumes that will nega-20
tively affect ecosystems well beyond the actual 21
mining sites; 22
(C) noise pollution that will cause physio-23
logical and behavioral stress to marine species; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 664 IH
(D) likely contamination of commercially 1
important species of food fish; and 2
(E) likely negative impacts on carbon se-3
questration dynamics and deep-ocean carbon 4
storage. 5
(4) The United Nations Convention on Biologi-6
cal Diversity, 15th Conference of Parties, Decision 7
15/24 encourages member States to ensure that, be-8
fore deep seabed mineral exploitation is permitted, 9
the related impacts on the marine environment and 10
biodiversity are sufficiently researched, the risks to 11
the marine ecosystem are sufficiently understood, 12
and sufficient regulation and conditions are imposed 13
to ensure that exploitation does not cause harmful 14
effects to the marine environment and biodiversity. 15
(5) The 2022 United Nations Environment 16
Programme Financial Initiative report on deep sea-17
bed mining states that the financing of such activi-18
ties is not consistent with Sustainable Blue Economy 19
Finance Principles. 20
(6) There is currently insufficient scientific in-21
formation on the deep sea and related marine eco-22
systems to fully and accurately assess the risks and 23
impacts of deep seabed mining activities. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 664 IH
(b) PROHIBITION OFCERTAINMININGACTIVITIES 1
ONDEEPSEABED ANDOUTERCONTINENTALSHELF.— 2
(1) D
EEP SEABED.—Notwithstanding any pro-3
vision of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources 4
Act (30 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), no license, permit, or 5
other authorization may be issued for exploration or 6
commercial recovery. 7
(2) O
UTER CONTINENTAL SHELF .—Notwith-8
standing any provision of the Outer Continental 9
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.), no li-10
cense, permit, or other authorization may be issued 11
for exploration, development, or production of a 12
hardrock mineral on the Outer Continental Shelf. 13
(3) E
XCEPTION FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH .— 14
Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to the 15
issuance of a license, permit, or other authorization 16
to carry out scientific research activities. 17
(c) A
SSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF 18
M
ININGACTIVITIES ONDEEPSEABED ANDOUTERCON-19
TINENTALSHELF.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 21
the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec-22
retary shall seek to enter into an agreement with the 23
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and 24
Medicine to conduct a comprehensive study of the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 664 IH
environmental impacts of mining activities on the 1
deep seabed and Outer Continental Shelf. 2
(2) S
UBMISSION OF ASSESSMENT .—The Sec-3
retary shall submit to the appropriate Congressional 4
committees a report regarding the findings of the 5
study described in paragraph (1). 6
(3) C
ONTENTS.—The study described in para-7
graph (1) shall include the following: 8
(A) A characterization of ecosystems— 9
(i) on the deep seabed and Outer Con-10
tinental Shelf; 11
(ii) in the overlying water columns of 12
the deep seabed and Outer Continental 13
Shelf; and 14
(iii) on seamounts and hydrothermal 15
vents. 16
(B) An assessment of the potential impacts 17
associated with mining activities on the deep 18
seabed and Outer Continental Shelf on— 19
(i) habitats and species on the deep 20
seabed and Outer Continental Shelf and in 21
the overlying water columns of the deep 22
seabed and Outer Continental Shelf, in-23
cluding— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 664 IH
(I) an approximate quantification 1
of the spatial extent and timescale of 2
such impacts; and 3
(II) the potential for the recovery 4
of such habitats and species from 5
such impacts; 6
(ii) the capacity of deep sea and open 7
ocean processes and ecosystems to seques-8
ter greenhouse gases; 9
(iii) users of the marine environment, 10
including— 11
(I) commercial and recreational 12
fisheries; 13
(II) recreational users; 14
(III) aquaculture operations; and 15
(IV) developers of subsea infra-16
structure; and 17
(iv) indigenous peoples and cultures 18
linked to marine species and the marine 19
environment. 20
(C) An assessment of the potential impacts 21
of sediment plumes from disturbance of the 22
deep seabed and Outer Continental Shelf and 23
collector vessel discharge on pelagic species and 24
food webs. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 664 IH
(D) An approximate quantification of the 1
greenhouse gas emissions associated with min-2
ing activities on the deep seabed and Outer 3
Continental Shelf, including such emissions that 4
may result from the alteration of the biology, 5
geology, or chemistry of the sediment on or the 6
overlying water column of the deep seabed and 7
Outer Continental Shelf. 8
(E) An assessment of the viability of alter-9
natives to the use of minerals found on the deep 10
seabed and Outer Continental Shelf, includ-11
ing— 12
(i) developing a greater capacity for 13
and promoting the reuse and recycling of 14
such minerals in circulation; 15
(ii) developing and promoting the use 16
of substitute minerals and materials that 17
have fewer or less severe environmental im-18
pacts associated with such use; and 19
(iii) developing methods to reduce the 20
environmental impacts of terrestrial min-21
ing practices and other similar initiatives. 22
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•HR 664 IH
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) with respect to the House of Rep-4
resentatives— 5
(i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 6
and 7
(ii) the Committee on Natural Re-8
sources; and 9
(B) with respect to the Senate— 10
(i) the Committee on Commerce, 11
Science, and Transportation; 12
(ii) the Committee on Energy and 13
Natural Resources; and 14
(iii) the Committee on Foreign Rela-15
tions. 16
(2) C
OMMERCIAL RECOVERY .—The term ‘‘com-17
mercial recovery’’ has the meaning given the term in 18
section 4 of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Re-19
sources Act (30 U.S.C. 1403). 20
(3) D
EEP SEABED.—The term ‘‘deep seabed’’ 21
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 22
Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (30 23
U.S.C. 1403). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•HR 664 IH
(4) DEVELOPMENT.—The term ‘‘development’’ 1
has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the 2
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 3
1331). 4
(5) E
XPLORATION.—The term ‘‘exploration’’— 5
(A) when used with respect to the deep 6
seabed, has the meaning given the term in sec-7
tion 4 of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Re-8
sources Act (30 U.S.C. 1403); and 9
(B) when used with respect to the Outer 10
Continental Shelf, has the meaning given the 11
term in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf 12
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331). 13
(6) O
UTER CONTINENTAL SHELF .—The term 14
‘‘Outer Continental Shelf’’ has the meaning given 15
the term ‘‘outer Continental Shelf’’ in section 2 of 16
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 17
1331). 18
(7) P
RODUCTION.—The term ‘‘production’’ has 19
the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Outer 20
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331). 21
(8) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Ad-23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•HR 664 IH
ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos-1
pheric Administration. 2
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H664.IH H664
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB