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Guam committee hears strong support for bill to prohibit seabed mining
Summary
A legislative committee on April 1 heard unanimous public and agency support for a bill that would ban seabed mining and related port activity in Guam territorial waters; agency witnesses urged adding enforcement penalties, clearer territorial definitions and proactive port authority powers.
The Committee on Land, Environment, Housing, Agriculture, Parks, and Infrastructure heard extensive testimony on April 1, 2026, in favor of Bill 2‑53‑38, which would prohibit mining, extraction and removal of minerals from the seabed in Guam’s territorial marine waters and bar permitting for associated infrastructure.
The measure’s sponsors and nearly a dozen witnesses described risks they say are posed by recent federal activity. The Department of Agriculture’s director told the committee that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) nearly doubled the area it is considering in the Marianas — from about 35,500,000 acres to roughly 69,100,000 acres — and that the western portion of the proposed area now comes as…
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