Protect the Eastern Seaboard from Harmful Seabed Mining

The Surfrider Foundation’s Southeast and Mid-Atlantic network is working to stop the federal administration from opening Virginia’s offshore waters to industrial seabed mining. On June 23, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it was opening a 30-day comment period on an unsolicited proposal from Odyssey Marine Exploration to conduct offshore mining for metals and phosphates off the coast of Virginia. BOEM is inviting public feedback on potential mining across 2,764 square miles (an area of ocean larger than Delaware)! If BOEM ultimately approves the project, Virginia’s coastal water will be subject to the harmful effects of Seabed mining.

Seabed mining is the industrial-scale prospecting for metals and other minerals along the ocean floor. The extraction process involves dredging or drilling the seafloor to pick up minerals to process on the surface. While the minerals targeted are commercially valuable, there are significant costs which need to be considered. The mining process can damage marine habitats and harm fish and invertebrates that live and forage on the seafloor. Seabed mining can also create sediment clouds in the water that smother or negatively impact plankton, groundfish, forage fish, and marine mammals. Such disruptions could generate cascading consequences for ecological resources, commercial fishing, and coastal communities. The proposed region is near documented sensitive habitat including corals, offshore canyons, and even the proposed Hudson Canyon Marine National Monument.

Surfrider is working with coalition partners to build awareness of this threat with local communities and encourage BOEM to not proceed with approving this harmful seabed mining project. There is currently a 30-day public comment period requesting information (RFI) on current uses of the proposed area. This information should include recreation uses, marine wildlife uses, proximity to sensitive habitat, fisheries uses, and more. This comment period is essential to document potential impacts of this proposed project and encourage the agency to halt any further consideration of seabed mining in the region.

Take action to stop BOEM from approving harmful seabed mining off of Virginia’s coast by adding your name to our comment letter here.  The deadline for comments is July 23, 2026, take action today!

Want to go above and beyond? You can also click here to submit an official comment to BOEM by July 23, 2026. Sample talking points to include in comment:

• I am very concerned about the potential authorization of seabed mining off of Virginia.
• Seabed mining involves industrial-scale prospecting for metals and other minerals along the ocean floor. Such activity can severely and potentially irreversibly damage marine habitats that nurture commercially and recreationally important fish, and numerous other species.
• In addition to direct physical destruction of habitat along the sea floor, seabed mining can create sediment clouds in the water column that disturb and harm sensitive marine life, including plankton, fish, whales, and dolphins.
• The federal waters off Virginia are home to diverse marine ecosystems that provide enormous ecological value and support the economic well-being of the region.
• The Eastern Seaboard’s economy depends on a clean and healthy coastal environment to support its tourism, recreation, and fishing industries.
• The waters off Virginia have important historical and cultural values that would be impacted by commercial seabed mining.
• Due to these reasons, I am opposed to opening this area for seabed mining.