is a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home , a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.
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This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on deep-sea mining and critical minerals, follow Justine Calma. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
This is not how I thought things would go down when I started covering deep-sea mining. I knew that impatience and greed could have unforeseen consequences for life that depends on healthy oceans, including humans. I just didn’t foresee Donald Trump coming back to blow up international negotiations meant to make sure no single government screws up a resource so vital to humanity that it’s been deemed a “common heritage of humankind.”
What might happen if the US rushes to open up the deep sea to mining for the first time? It’s never been done at a large scale before anywhere in the world. I couldn’t tell you with certainty what the consequences would be. That uncertainty — and the speed at which we’re rushing into it — is unsettling.
The ocean happens to be one of the biggest mysteries still left to solve. The surface of the Moon is better mapped than the seafloor. Scientists are finding thousands of new species that have never been documented before. And researchers are squabbling over the veracity and origin of “dark oxygen,” which was recently described rising from the abyss in a controversial study that could potentially upend our notions of how life first evolved on Earth.
Before we even get a chance to wrap our heads around what’s down there — or what could happen if we disturb it — startups could soon begin mining the deep sea with President Trump’s blessing.
How it’s going
The Trump administration has stunned the world with a slew of actions meant to open up the high seas to commercial mining. It’s already reviewing an application by a Canadian company for a mining permit; its approval could amount to a rubber stamp to circumvent international law.
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