{"id":3183,"date":"2026-01-28T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T01:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3183"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T01:00:08","slug":"trump-administration-declares-pristine-alaskan-seafloor-open-for-business-mocks-environmental-safeguards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3183","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration declares pristine Alaskan seafloor \u201copen for business,\u201d mocks environmental safeguards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Trump Administration officials used the Offshore Critical Minerals Exploration &amp; Development Forum to push forward seabed mining in U.S. waters, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boem.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/boem-seeks-public-input-potential-alaska-minerals-lease-sale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"This link will lead you to boem.gov\"><strong>announcing<\/strong><\/a><strong> steps that could pave the way for the first mining operation on Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf while openly dismissing environmental safeguards. In response, John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, said:<\/strong> \u201cTrump is as much of a menace to our oceans as he is to our communities. This rush to mine the seafloor reflects a bankrupt 19th-century extractive ideology, not genuine national security needs or sound business strategy. Deep sea mining does not exist for many good reasons \u2014 it is economically speculative, scientifically reckless, and environmentally destructive. At a time of accelerating ocean, climate, and biodiversity crisis, the priority should be on protecting these ecosystems, not opening new frontiers of extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The administration\u2019s disregard for science, data-driven decision-making, and environmental oversight was underscored at the conference when D. Lee Forsgren, acting assistant secretary at the Army Corps of Engineers, dismissed review requirements, saying, <em>\u201cGod forbid we have to go to an actual environmental impact assessment.\u201d<\/em> Erik Noble, deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmospheres, declared the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) <em>\u201copen for business.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hocevar continued:<\/strong> \u201cWhen senior officials openly mock environmental impact assessments, it shows how little respect they have for science, public process, or even the law. Environmental review is<em> not<\/em> red tape \u2014 it\u2019s how we protect the very fisheries, coastal communities, and ecosystems, livelihoods and industries the administration has claimed it wants to \u2018unleash.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The push towards launching the industry advanced today when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boem.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/boem-seeks-public-input-potential-alaska-minerals-lease-sale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"This link will lead you to boem.gov\">announced<\/a> a request for information to gauge industry interest in seabed mining across Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf\u2014part of the administration\u2019s broader effort to advance deep sea mining before the science, the law, and affected communities can fully weigh in. Past BOEM actions, including in American Samoa, where widespread public opposition was ignored, suggest this approach prioritizes momentum over precaution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump Administration officials used the Offshore Critical Minerals Exploration &amp; Development Forum to push forward seabed mining in U.S. waters, announcing steps that could pave the way for the first mining operation on Alaska\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf while openly dismissing environmental safeguards. In response, John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, said: \u201cTrump is as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-3183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}