The company that wants to exploit the deep -sea battery minerals turns to Donald Trump for his support.

The company that prompted to open the deep sea for mining is up to the Trump administration after years hitting roadblocks in international negotiations.

Nauru’s island nation initially sponsored Metals Company (TMC) and its operating effort on the high seas. In 2021, this triggered a race to develop regulations before TMC or any other company could start to harvest minerals in international waters to be used in rechargeable batteries.

Panic quickly settled among many scientists, environmental groups and political decision -makers worried about the consequences of the exploitation of the abyss of the ocean. The surface of the moon is better mapped than the seabed of the world, and researchers always make superb discoveries that raise questions on the training effects that mining could have on ocean ecosystems and coastal communities that count on them.

Translections to develop rules for the exploitation of deep exploitation are still underway at the International SEA Feld Authority (ISA), which was created by the United Nations Convention in 1982 on sea law. Nauru and more than 160 other nations have ratified the Convention, but the United States has not done so. And with President Donald Trump on a crusade to retreat environmental protections and “unravel, baby, forest”, the United States could prove to be a more powerful ally for TMC.

TMC announced yesterday that the company had “met with managers of the White House” and now planned to request permits under the US mining code existing to start extracting minerals from the high seas. “After a deepened legal examination and a constructive commitment with (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other civil servants of the American government, we think that the United States offers a stable regulatory path, Transparent and enforceable, “TMC CEO, Gerard Barron, said yesterday in a press release.

The news sent shock waves thanks to ISA meetings which take place in Kingston, Jamaica, this month. This quickly aroused criticism of groups opposed to the extraction of the deep sea which say that TMC is trying to bypass a multilateral process.

“The Metals company crosses a dangerous line by flirting with a violation of international law and a disturbance of multilateralism,” said Emma Wilson, responsible for Deep Sea Conservation Coalition policies, in a press release.

The coalition, as well as more than 30 countries, put pressure on a ban or a moratorium on the operation of the high seas until the rules are in place to minimize potential damage. The development of these rules has been slow, in part because the researchers say that they need more time to study the deep sea to understand the risks.

Last year, for example, scientists published controversial evidence of “dark oxygen” rising from the abyssal seabed. They still do not know with certainty how oxygen is produced because oxygen is a product of photosynthesis, a process requiring sunlight. The article, which was published in the journal Nature geosciencesuggests that there is a completely different process and previously unknown to produce oxygen, raising questions about the amount of life on earth depends on this process and if the extraction of the deep EA could interfere with it. This research was initially funded in part by the company Metals, which then repudiated the results, claiming that the methods of scientists were “wrong”. Other mining companies and independent researchers have also questioned the study.

Its authors have hypothesized that the polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, copper, cobalt, iron and manganese which are scattered through the seabed could be able to produce enough electrical load to divide sea water, releasing oxygen by electrolysis. These nodules are exactly what TMC and other mining companies are impatient to harvest to meet the growing demand for battery materials used in electric vehicles and rechargeable devices. Other recent studies have shown that operating on the high seas could cause “irreversible” damage and noise strong enough to make communication difficult for whales and other sea creatures.

TMC claims that its own data show that the exploitation of deep efficiency would be less damaging than mining on earth. In an email at The penisHis CEO also says: “TMC remains fully in accordance with international law.”

According to The New York Times“The projects now circulate from a decree that President Trump will be invited to sign” which would support mining in international waters on the grounds that the United States has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comments The penis.

“States, civil society, scientists, companies and indigenous communities continue to resist these efforts,” said Louisa Casson, principal activist for Greenpeace International, in a press release. “After trying and failed to put pressure on the international community to respond to its requests, this reckless announcement is a slap in the face of international cooperation.”