We recently came across an opinion piece published by an associate environmental policy professor at Franklin and Marshall College entitled, “Reducing carbon emissions can’t come at the expense of our oceans.” The article appeared on The Hill website on 10/15/23, and it argues against extracting polymetallic nodules – mostly on environmental grounds. We have written … Read more
Thirty-one members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, requesting that the DoD consider adding polymetallic nodules to the defense stockpile. The letter, dated December 7th, 2023, noted that China has taken a great interest in developing nodule resources in international waters and that the US risks being left further behind … Read more
On the 25th of November Greenpeace activists illegally boarded TMC’s research vessel, MV Coco, while scientists on board were busy at work, conducting research in the Pacific Ocean, and demanded a stop to that research. Link Greenpeace’s move to stop research is not surprising to anyone who pays attention to the tactics of the environmental … Read more
A study by Bryan O’Malley and several co-authors, which was discussed at an industry conference in November of 2023, demonstrated the level of environmental stress to foraminifera from harvesting operations in the CCZ during a harvesting program that ran in the fall of 2022. Link The study examined foraminifera (“forams”) because these small, single-celled creatures … Read more
An article in the Washington Post highlighted the large role that China is playing in the International Seabed Authority to gain access to polymetallic nodules. The country has rights to five licenses and is very influential in moving policy at the ISA. China clearly has a leg up on the US and Europe when it … Read more
TMC held an open webcast on 11/21/23 where lead environmental manager, Michael Clarke, discussed data gathered from last year’s harvesting program. The data showed that benthic plume dispersion was heavily influenced by a gravity current such that the plume doesn’t spread upward to any great extent, but instead spreads laterally. Because the plume doesn’t spread … Read more