Protect our coast from offshore mining. | Southern Environmental Law Center

Protect our coast from offshore mining

Recently, the Trump Administration announced that it is considering opening federal waters off Virginia’s coast to seabed mining. The proposed lease area sits just east of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, and spans more than 2,700 square miles—an area larger than the state of Delaware. These offshore waters support vast commercial and recreational fisheries and provide important migratory habitat for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, as well as four different species of federally protected sea turtles.

We’re concerned about the many negative impacts that seabed mining could have both offshore and onshore given that heavy mineral mining involves industrial-scale dredging to break up and remove enormous volumes of seafloor material.

Seabed mining would remove enormous volumes of seafloor material from the bottom of the ocean and generate large plumes of sediment that could move well beyond the mining footprint, putting the region’s wildlife and fisheries at risk. Although the public notice has not provided full information about mining depth, duration, or other key details, we also have concerns that changes to seabed topography caused by industrial mining could impact storm surge, coastal erosion, and shoreline stability at a time when climate change is already causing rising sea levels and stronger, more destructive storms.

Coastal communities in Virginia—and partners up and down the East coast—successfully opposed the threat of offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean in 2015 and 2018 and can do so again. The threat is new, but we’re no strangers to defending the Atlantic Coast. Speak up to protect our coasts and wildlife: tell BOEM we don’t want this extractive industry in our beloved oceans.

Recipients: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

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To whom it may concern,

My name is {user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name} and I live in {user_data~ZIP Code}. I urge BOEM to stop the leasing process for seabed mining off Virginia’s coast given the potential impacts of large-scale seabed mining on Virginia’s marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and existing ocean uses.

The Virginia coast is among the most biologically productive and economically significant areas on the Eastern Seaboard, home to: habitat and migratory corridors for several federally protected species, including North Atlantic right whales, fin whales, humpback whales, four species of sea turtles, and Atlantic sturgeon; Virginia’s commercial fisheries, which rank third in U.S. landings for fisheries and fuels local economies; and many military operations areas, including a zone formally designated as a “danger zone” containing “munitions and explosives of concern.”

Wildlife, fisheries, and Virginia’s coastal communities rely on clean, healthy water. Marine phosphate and heavy mineral sand mining could disrupt ocean ecosystems and liberate PCBs, heavy metals, and other contaminants currently locked in seafloor sediments, introducing them into the food chain and potentially devastating fisheries.

The noise and light generated by industrial mining machinery risk additional harm, threatening to disrupt feeding, reproduction, and navigation behaviors of marine wildlife. Although we do not have information about the depth or duration of mining, we also have concerns that changes to seabed topography caused by industrial sand mining could also impact storm surge, coastal erosion, and shoreline stability at a time when climate change is already causing rising sea levels and stronger, more destructive storms.

Other countries have rejected marine phosphate mining proposals as too environmentally risky, and the U.S. should too. I urge BOEM to not move forward with the proposed lease sales for seabed mining off Virginia’s coast.

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~ZIP Code}

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