The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is evaluating whether to hold a first-of-its-kind lease sale for seabed mineral development in federal waters off Alaska, and seeking information and input to help decide if it should move forward.
The formal request for information covers specific areas of Alaska's federal offshore waters, including around most of the Aleutian Islands, Goodnews Bay and Norton Sound in the Bering Sea, the Chukchi Borderland (also sometimes referred to as the Chukchi Borderlands) and Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean, and areas in the Gulf of Alaska. Altogether, it covers approximately 113,703,395 acres.
The request said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is interested in areas where the U.S. Geological Survey has identified potential for critical minerals.
The Aleutian Arc is a chain of active volcanoes where underwater hot springs can create mineral deposits over thousands to millions of years. A USGS team searched the region in June, but data on what minerals they found hasn't been released yet.
USGS scientists did find thriving coral and sponge communities on the Aleutian seafloor, which may be vulnerable to disturbances from resource extraction.
According to the bureau, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the goal is to "strengthen U.S. energy security and supply chains, shorten delivery lines and keep jobs and investment here at home."
The move comes as the Trump administration has signed orders aimed at speeding up the development of energy and critical minerals. If the bureau decides to proceed, federal law requires environmental analysis and additional steps. The sale would be the first Outer Continental Shelf minerals lease sale offshore Alaska, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Comments on whether to hold the lease sale can be submitted online. The deadline is March 2 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
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