Congressional Bill: nodules “quantitatively proven to reduce ESG impacts”

March 12, 2024, Representatives Carol Miller (WV) and John Joyce (PA) introduced the Responsible Use of Seafloor Resources Act. We link to the Bill here.

H.R. 7636 was written: “To support international governance of seafloor resource exploration and responsible polymetallic nodule collection by allied partners, strengthen domestic processing and refining capabilities, and for other purposes.” The Bill is designed to provide a wide range of support for nodule harvesting and processing.

While we don’t pretend to know how much support the Bill will ultimately garner in Congress, we do know that if lawmakers are paying attention to the science they will sign on as sponsors. We have provided a number of lifecycle analyses and specific studies on benthic impacts that demonstrate the relatively light footprint of nodule harvesting as compared to alternatives.

Support for nodule harvesting should not be a partisan issue – it represents a win-win for society. Both Democrats and Republicans agree on the fact that China is an existential threat to our national security and that the country effectively controls much of our energy mineral supply chain. The parties also agree that sparing the environment to the extent possible while making a rapid push toward decarbonization will benefit the world. They would naturally agree that seabed nodules are the preferred route for society were it not for the fundraising campaigns of certain environmental groups which spread uncertainty and doubt about nodule extraction by making emotional pleas that are backed with misinformation.

Regardless of whether this Bill becomes law, it prominently features the correct argument for lawmakers and society:

“Investing in the development of mineral resources and processing infrastructure quantitatively proven to reduce ESG impacts, such as seafloor nodules, is integral to ensuring the raw materials that underpin our domestic industrial base and transition to clean energy do not have adverse planetary impacts.”

The drumbeat grows louder. Society is starting to recognize that environmental groups are manipulating them with fabricated scare stories about nodule harvesting, and playing on humanity’s love for the ocean, to win donations. NGOs follow this path of deception even though doing so compromises human lives, endangers the world’s most sensitive ecosystems, slows decarbonization, and compromises our national security interests. Communication of scientific studies and empirical data is causing people to question the NGO narrative and come to a more rational decision. Let’s hope that the momentum continues.