By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
The International Seabed Authority has approved the American Samoa
Economic Development Council’s petition for observer status, which guarantees the group a nonvoting seat at the assembly's meetings.
“It’s important because American Samoa now has a voice among global leaders in environment, science and humanitarian efforts,” said John Wasko, ASEDC executive director.
The ASEDC was created in 2019 as a not-for-profit organization, which aims to “develop and nurture economic growth” in American Samoa by exploring deep-sea mining opportunities.
According to ISA’s website, NGO observers “may sit at public meetings of the assembly and, upon invitation from the president and subject to approval by the assembly, may make oral statements on questions within the scope of their activities.”
As a non-government organization, Wasko said, ASEDC’s observer status with ISA is outside the U.S. State Department’s purview.
“The American Samoa government is restrained as a U.S. territory by the State Department from joining (international) organizations. As an NGO, ASEDC has no such State Department oversight. That makes us a back-channel information source,” Wasko said.
Established under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ISA is an autonomous organization that regulates parties to UNCLOS conducting
mineral-related activities in the high seas.
As of October, ISA had issued 31 exploration contracts to public and private
mining enterprises for seabed mineral resources.
Since the United States has not ratified UNCLOS, it cannot sponsor companies seeking ISA contracts, according to the Congressional Research Center's October 2024 report.
However, the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980, signed into law before ISA was established, authorized the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to regulate deep-seabed exploration in “areas beyond national jurisdiction.”
“The ASEDC will adopt ISA’s deep-sea critical mineral mining guidelines and policies to become an Asia Pacific leader in an emerging economic growth industry,” Wasko said. “Since we will be the receiving and refining hub, our ISA platform should carry the weight of 30 years of study and experience.”
In November last year, the ASEDC entered into a memorandum of understanding with California-based Impossible Metals Inc. to collaborate on deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules from American Samoa’s waters and process them into battery-grade metals.
The MOU will be “a basis for commencing negotiations for one or more definitive agreements.”
The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated 10 billion tons of subsea electric vehicle-critical minerals lying on the ocean floor within American Samoa's exclusive economic zone.
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