Nonprofit sues US as it pushes to auction massive tracks of water around American Samoa

San Juan, Puerto Rico (AP) — A legal environmental group, Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on behalf of two Samoan organizations, Fa'sao Amerika Samoa and Conservation Council for Hawai'i. The suit alleges that the Trump administration's plan to auction deep-sea mining leases in U.S. waters off American Samoa is unlawful.

The lawsuit requests that a judge halt the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick from proceeding with the plans, asserting that the activity would violate the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.

The lawsuit claims that the United States has never previously permitted deep-sea mining in its waters. It highlights the massive scale of the proposed mining area, covering about 33 million acres (51,560 square miles) of seabed off American Samoa, which is rich in minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese. These minerals are essential for manufacturing batteries and electronic devices.

Earthjustice argues that the U.S. must first ensure that the mining activity will not destroy critical habitats or threaten species with extinction. The environmental group describes the National Marine Fisheries Service's recent decision that the leases would not affect critical habitat or endangered or threatened species as "a wholly arbitrary and capricious determination."

The lawsuit emphasizes the importance of a healthy ocean ecosystem to the Samoan people. It states that the ocean provides food for Samoan households, protects shorelines, and has been central to many cultural practices that have existed for over a millennium.