Donald Trump's executive order circumvents the International Seabed Authority's control of international waters. Mining companies are seizing the moment, while activists believe they'll pollute the ocean.
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00:00Did you know that huge parts of the deep ocean floor are covered with potato-sized rocks
00:05packed with minerals that are crucial for electric car batteries, wind turbines, and
00:10solar panels?
00:11We're talking billions of tons of poly-metallic nodules that contain nickel, cobalt, and copper.
00:18President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that could fast-track commercial
00:23deep-sea mining, and a Canadian startup, The Metals Company, seized the moment to apply
00:28for a permit to start mining in U.S.-controlled waters.
00:32The company already spent $500 million proving deep-sea mining can work.
00:38It's already collected and processed a huge haul of the deep-sea nodules.
00:42This is history.
00:43I've never stood in this.
00:45No one has.
00:46The International Seabed Authority, which is supposed to be in charge of regulating deep-sea
00:51mining since 1994, says that Trump's order circumvents its control of resources in international
00:57waters.
00:58The seafloor in the remote parts of the ocean is one of the least explored ecosystems on
01:03the planet.
01:04They're filled with creatures we hardly know, like this never-before-seen octopus,
01:08plus sea cucumbers, fish, and stuff we don't even have a name for yet.
01:14Scientists are rushing to study these ecosystems before mining kicks off.
01:18While companies argue that seafloor mining is cleaner than mining on land, activists strongly
01:23disagree.
01:24Stop plundering the seafloor.
01:27Greenpeace provided footage to Business Insider, showing what they say is evidence of the metals
01:31company already polluting the ocean with gunk they sucked up from the seafloor.
01:37What we do know is that mining metals on land can have devastating effects.
01:42In order to have electric cars, you need certain minerals, and one of those is cobalt.
01:47The cobalt rush in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been linked to human rights abuses,
01:52including the use of child labor.
01:54So, is deep sea mining worth the risk?
01:57Or are we diving into trouble?
01:59You can see the full story we did on this a few years ago on Business Insider's YouTube
02:03channel.