Comments closed August 22
Stop mineral mining leases off Virginia's coast
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management · Outer Continental Shelf offshore Virginia, VA
- What
- The federal government is gathering industry interest to open Virginia's offshore waters to commercial mineral extraction.
- Where
- Outer Continental Shelf offshore Virginia, VA
- How much
- Marine habitats, fishing grounds, and coastal ecosystems off Virginia could be opened to industrial mineral mining.
- Decided
- Comments closed August 22, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Federal Register ↗, read July 26, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Federal Register 2026-15026 ↗. 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 22, 2026, from Federal Register, the document’s comment close date (federalregister.gov) ↗. Read July 26, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
Matthew N. Giacona
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
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 Director Giacona to answer for a decision their office made.
My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. Matthew N. Giacona, Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, signed the decision on Stop mineral mining leases off Virginia's coast. 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.
Affects public lands
The federal government is gathering industry interest to open Virginia's offshore waters to commercial mineral extraction.
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
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announces the 30- day extension of the comment period for the request for information and interest (RFI) for leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf minerals offshore the Commonwealth of Virginia, referred to as the RFI Area.
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in Virginia
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Virginia, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Friends of Shenandoah Mountain
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Virginia: They work only in Virginia.
- Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Virginia: Virginia is one of the 2 states they work in.
- Shenandoah National Park Association
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia: A nonprofit partner of Shenandoah National Park.
- Shenandoah National Park Trust
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia: A nonprofit partner of Shenandoah National Park.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
Matthew N. Giacona
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
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.
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