SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz County leaders are doubling down on their opposition to Trump administration efforts that could open up the California coast to what many local advocates say are harmful resource extraction projects.
The county Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution at its meeting Tuesday that formally denounced recent federal actions that seek to expedite seabed mining permits and projects in coastal waters.
The resolution, drawn up by 3rd District Supervisor Justin Cummings, states that “deep-sea mining remains an unproven, speculative industry with no demonstrated record of safe commercial-scale operation, while existing coastal and ocean economies — including fisheries, tourism, recreation, and cultural practices — depend upon healthy marine ecosystems that could be jeopardized by seabed mining impacts.”
The board’s action was initially meant to round out another resolution it adopted in January that conveyed the board’s vehement opposition to offshore oil drilling but failed to mention deep-sea mining as an emergent threat.
As it so happened, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management shared a notice of proposed rulemaking on Monday that, if approved, would expedite the leasing of large offshore areas for deep-sea mineral extraction, including waters near American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Alaska and Virginia.
The 60-day comment period began Tuesday and will run until April 27.
Though the California coastline was not explicitly identified in the notice as a prospective mining site, Supervisor Manu Koenig said a recent roundtable with local environmental experts revealed that the Central Coast is likely to attract attention from mining project developers because of the Davidson Seamount off the coast of Big Sur, which is imbued with an abundance of rare earth minerals. The 26-milelong underwater mountain range was added to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 2008.
“It is important to pay attention to this and oppose seabed mining in our area,” said Koenig.
Seabed mining has long been a point of contention between pro-extraction groups and environmental advocates. The Trump administration and its allies argue that minerals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese and others are critical for consumer electronics, energy production, health care, transportation and defense products.
But local political, environmental, nonprofit, business and Indigenous group leaders have forcefully pushed back against those contentions by responding that digging into these pristine deep-sea ecosystems will cause irreversible biodiversity losses, a worsening of the climate change crisis and devastating economic and food system impacts, among other negative consequences.
The resolution states that the emerging federal proposals involve industrial excavation of the seafloor that would “crush habitat, remove mineral formations that host marine life, and generate sediment plumes capable of spreading far beyond mining sites, potentially causing long-lasting or irreversible harm to marine ecosystems.”
The board also believes that the federal moves equate to unilateral advancement of deep-sea mining efforts that will undermine international ocean governance norms and dilute formal oversight mechanisms.
The Trump administration’s quest to expedite offshore oil drilling and deep seabed mining contracts has consistently received swift and widespread pushback from elected county representatives at all levels and from nonprofit groups.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta recently convened a roundtable of local business leaders to discuss the potential economic impacts of the offshore oil drilling leasing proposal and joined California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren in urging federal officials to extend the public comment period for industry professionals another 90 days past a previously established deadline on Thursday.
Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Save Our Shores has also been working with local governments across the state to help them update their ordinances in ways that could buffer against offshore drilling leases.
“Save Our Shores strongly applauds the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for adopting a resolution opposing seabed mining,” said Save Our Shores Executive Director Katie Thompson in a statement to the Sentinel. “With the federal government accelerating offshore leasing processes for seabed mining, this threat is no longer hypothetical but a real and pressing challenge California will likely soon face. This action by the Board of Supervisors reflects the forward-thinking leadership our coast, marine ecosystems, and coastal communities deserve.”