An economist in the Northern Marianas says CNMI stands to gain nothing economically from deep sea mining in federal waters.
Clement “CJ” Bermudez Jr, told a packed forum on December 3 that, unlike independent Pacific nations, such as the Cook Island, which can issue their own licenses and directly reap profits from seabed minerals, the CNMI, Guam, and American Samoa have no automatic claim to revenues because they are US territories and the proposed mining area lies within the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
The proposal is to mine in the seabed within the 200-mile EEZ of the Marianas – the CNMI and Guam.
“All licensing, royalties, monitoring, and enforcement are federal functions,” Bermudez said.
“There’s no automatic revenue sharing between the federal government and the CNMI when it comes to the US model for deep sea mining and sales.”
He added any benefit would require an act of Congress – an uncertain prospect at best.
His warning set the tone for the Northern Marianas College (NMC) Cooperative Research, Extension and Education Services and the CNMI Green Growth Initiative’s “Community Conversations: Deep Sea Mining in the CNMI” forum, where scientists, traditional navigators, teachers, lawmakers, and ocean advocates filled the American Memorial Park indoor auditorium to capacity.
For three hours, panelists and residents dissected what is at stake as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) weighs whether to open potential leasing blocks roughly 128 miles east of Saipan – an area firmly under federal jurisdiction. Economic, scientific, cultural, and political uncertainties dominated the night.
