Dangerous and unnecessary: New report finds we shouldn’t mine the deep sea

LOS ANGELES — According to a new report released Tuesday, we do not need destructive deep-sea mining operations to meet our critical mineral needs — even with California’s ambitious goal to reach 100% clean energy by 2045. In fact, the world trashes more copper and cobalt – metals used to build clean energy technologies – in our electronic waste than would likely be extracted each year from the central Pacific through at least 2035, underscoring the importance of California’s Right to Repair Act, which will go into effect July 1.

The report, “We don’t need deep-sea mining,” released by Environment California Research & Policy Center, CALPIRG Education Fund, and Frontier Group just weeks ahead of a key international summit on the topic, outlines how mining operations could destroy vulnerable ecosystems off our coasts. It also details how taking commonsense steps such as reducing the electronic waste we generate can help meet our mineral demands. 

The report finds that deep-sea mining could irreparably alter hundreds or thousands of square miles of seafloor, and create plumes of sediment and mining waste that could spread even further. Yet, mining proponents are using the threat of potential shortages of critical minerals – such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earth elements – as justification to carry out mining in one of the world’s last great wildernesses.

“Mining the deep sea will destroy one of the most mysterious and remote wildernesses on the planet, all to extract the very same metals we throw in the trash every day,” said Laura Deehan, state director of Environment California Research and Policy Center. “While we work to protect California’s coastal ocean life, we should join in calls to protect the deep ocean before it’s too late.” 

This report comes as diplomats from around the world prepare to travel to Jamaica in July, where the International Seabed Authority could debate, for the first time, a proposal to put a moratorium on mining – or see a loophole pave the way for the first commercial exploitation of the deep sea for minerals ever undertaken. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Seabed Mining Prevention Act following unanimous, bipartisan support in the Legislature. But current mining proposals would see exploitation begin in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Central America.

“With California passing legislation to protect the deep sea, the entire West Coast is now aligned in safeguarding our ocean floors from the destructive practice of deep-sea mining,” said Assemblymember Luz Rivas. “I am proud of the bipartisan support that my legislation, AB 1832, received. While minerals play an important role in meeting our growing electrified society, they cannot come at the risk of jeopardizing our oceans, which provide the basis for life on our planet.”

The report cites research indicating that deep-sea mining is not needed to meet the critical mineral needs of the energy transition. The authors outline how we can build a circular economy for critical minerals around the 5 Rs – the traditional 3 Rs of reduce, reuse and recycle, coupled with reimagining products for greater efficiency and durability and repairing products to extend their lifetimes. Strategies like these could, according to research cited in the report, fully close global supply gaps for nickel and copper by 2030 and dramatically narrow them for cobalt, lithium and the rare earth element neodymium. After passing the Right to Repair Act in 2023, California is already a national leader in advancing these strategies.

“Disposable electronic devices are creating a toxic e-waste mess. Now, some mining companies are trying to convince policymakers that we need to wreak havoc on the ocean to source the materials to make more,” said Fiona Hines, advocate for CALPIRG Education Fund. “This report shows that we don’t need to ruin the deep sea to make the products we need. There is a more sustainable path: make long-lasting, fixable electronics and recycle them when the time comes.” To read the full report, and to see our interactive graphic on alternatives to deep-sea mining, visit the report page.