Comments closed August 3
Oppose Deep Seabed Mining
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · Deep Seabed (U.S.-regulated international waters)
- What
- A mining company wants federal permission to explore the deep ocean floor, and public comments can stop it.
- Where
- Deep Seabed (U.S.-regulated international waters)
- How much
- Deep ocean ecosystems in U.S.-regulated international waters face potential damage from seabed mineral extraction by American Deep Sea Minerals, Inc.
- Decided
- Comments closed August 3, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Federal Register ↗, read June 3, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Federal Register 2026-10975 ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- DecidedAugust 3, 2026, from Federal Register, the document’s comment close date (federalregister.gov) ↗. Read June 3, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
Neil A. Jacobs
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A person signed this, not an agency. The window has closed and the signature stands, which is exactly when accountability matters.
Short is better. You are asking Under Secretary Jacobs to answer for a decision their office made.
My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. Neil A. Jacobs, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, signed the decision on Oppose Deep Seabed Mining. I'm asking that office to answer for it publicly. Please record that I called and tell me what the office intends to do.
Official channels only, about this decision. No personal phone numbers, no home addresses, no personal social accounts, and nothing abusive. The point is to make the office answer, and an abusive call is the one thing that lets it off the hook.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
PLAN's read: high threat
A mining company wants federal permission to explore the deep ocean floor, and public comments can stop it.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
NOAA has received an application for a license to conduct seabed mining exploration activities that is fully compliant with the applicable information requirements of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA or the Act) and the Act's implementing regulations. As part of the application review process, NOAA will hold one virtual public hearing on American Deep Sea Minerals, Inc.'s (ADSM) application and will accept written comments on the application submitted electronically via the instructions below.
Who signs it
Neil A. Jacobs
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Where the notice says so
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
In court on this ground
This fight isn’t bound to a land unit in PLAN’s record yet, so there are no court cases to show for its ground.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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