AB 1832: Waters subject to tidal influence: hard mineral extraction.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Seabed Mining Prevention Act.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)Seabed mineral mining is not consistent with the public interest, public trust, or public rights to navigation and fishing that are three key principles of the common law public trust doctrine embodied in the California Constitution: the right to fish, pursuant to Section 25 of Article I, the right to navigate, pursuant to Section 3 of Article X, and the right to access public tidelands and submerged lands, pursuant to Section 4 of Article X.

(b)Seabed mining poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state. It is in the best interest of the people of California that leasing for hard mineral mining at the seafloor be prohibited.

(c)California marine waters are home to rich, diverse, and globally significant ecosystems, including the deepwater column seafloor. These environments host millions of species, a biodiversity that may even be richer than tropical rainforests. The extent of this diversity is still largely unknown, which makes its disruption by industrial-scale mining a perilous choice.

(d)The seafloor has provided compounds to help treat damage, from cancer to inflammation and nerve damage, and compounds used for analyzing illness.

(e)Californias deepwater column and seafloor are critically important to people: indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities maintain strong spiritual, cultural, and economic connections to the deep ocean.

(f)Seabed mining could erode the sovereignty and harm the ancestral lands and waters of California Native American tribes.

(g)Seabed mining poses risks to the states existing ocean-dependent industries, including commercial fishing, recreational fishing, and tourism.

(h)The damage from seabed mining could take several forms. Large machinery could remove or destroy entire communities of sponges, corals, kelp forests, and other marine life. Sediment clouds, some capable of traveling long distances, could smother or negatively impact the feeding and reproduction of other marine life, including plankton, benthic fish like halibut and groundfish, and pelagic fish like salmon, tuna, billfish, and forage species. These sediment plumes as well as the associated noise may negatively impact whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals throughout the region. Also at risk are the breathtaking beaches, tide pools, and rocky reaches that help support a multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

(i)The legislatures of the States of Oregon and Washington have both passed analogous legislation to prohibit seabed mining in their state waters, in 1991 and 2021, respectively. The call for a global moratorium on seabed mining has grown, arising from indigenous peoples, citizens, scientists, and companies in technology and car manufacturing that require hard minerals. In June of 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a moratorium on seabed mining. In September 2021, 81 governments and governmental agencies attending the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress voted in favor of a moratorium.

(j)California state waters do not represent a marketable source for battery metals, the emerging justification for extraction interest at the seafloor globally. The most likely interest would occur for two different types of extraction in two distinct geographic areas: (1) Californias north coast, in the hunt for gold, titanium, and other precious and semiprecious metals; and (2) the Southern California Bight, searching for phosphorites typically used in industrial fertilizer and not currently in short supply.

(k)Leasing authority for Californias tidelands and submerged lands is held with the State Lands Commission, except for those instances where the Legislature has granted in trust the states sovereign lands to local governments to manage on behalf of the state. In the absence of legislation, California is required to accept applications for hard mineral exploration and extraction leases along its coast, and to consider those applications on a case-by-case basis.

(l)An estimated 0.01 percent of the deep seafloor has been explored worldwide. History is fraught with hard lessons learned about destroying what we do not know or understand. The issue of seabed mining emphasizes the need to take a precautionary approach, both in our state and as a global community.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Seabed Mining Prevention Act.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)Seabed mineral mining is not consistent with the public interest, public trust, or public rights to navigation and fishing that are three key principles of the common law public trust doctrine embodied in the California Constitution: the right to fish, pursuant to Section 25 of Article I, the right to navigate, pursuant to Section 3 of Article X, and the right to access public tidelands and submerged lands, pursuant to Section 4 of Article X.

(b)Seabed mining poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state. It is in the best interest of the people of California that leasing for hard mineral mining at the seafloor be prohibited.

(c)California marine waters are home to rich, diverse, and globally significant ecosystems, including the deepwater column seafloor. These environments host millions of species, a biodiversity that may even be richer than tropical rainforests. The extent of this diversity is still largely unknown, which makes its disruption by industrial-scale mining a perilous choice.

(d)The seafloor has provided compounds to help treat damage, from cancer to inflammation and nerve damage, and compounds used for analyzing illness.

(e)Californias deepwater column and seafloor are critically important to people: indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities maintain strong spiritual, cultural, and economic connections to the deep ocean.

(f)Seabed mining could erode the sovereignty and harm the ancestral lands and waters of California Native American tribes.

(g)Seabed mining poses risks to the states existing ocean-dependent industries, including commercial fishing, recreational fishing, and tourism.

(h)The damage from seabed mining could take several forms. Large machinery could remove or destroy entire communities of sponges, corals, kelp forests, and other marine life. Sediment clouds, some capable of traveling long distances, could smother or negatively impact the feeding and reproduction of other marine life, including plankton, benthic fish like halibut and groundfish, and pelagic fish like salmon, tuna, billfish, and forage species. These sediment plumes as well as the associated noise may negatively impact whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals throughout the region. Also at risk are the breathtaking beaches, tide pools, and rocky reaches that help support a multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

(i)The legislatures of the States of Oregon and Washington have both passed analogous legislation to prohibit seabed mining in their state waters, in 1991 and 2021, respectively. The call for a global moratorium on seabed mining has grown, arising from indigenous peoples, citizens, scientists, and companies in technology and car manufacturing that require hard minerals. In June of 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a moratorium on seabed mining. In September 2021, 81 governments and governmental agencies attending the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress voted in favor of a moratorium.

(j)California state waters do not represent a marketable source for battery metals, the emerging justification for extraction interest at the seafloor globally. The most likely interest would occur for two different types of extraction in two distinct geographic areas: (1) Californias north coast, in the hunt for gold, titanium, and other precious and semiprecious metals; and (2) the Southern California Bight, searching for phosphorites typically used in industrial fertilizer and not currently in short supply.

(k)Leasing authority for Californias tidelands and submerged lands is held with the State Lands Commission, except for those instances where the Legislature has granted in trust the states sovereign lands to local governments to manage on behalf of the state. In the absence of legislation, California is required to accept applications for hard mineral exploration and extraction leases along its coast, and to consider those applications on a case-by-case basis.

(l)An estimated 0.01 percent of the deep seafloor has been explored worldwide. History is fraught with hard lessons learned about destroying what we do not know or understand. The issue of seabed mining emphasizes the need to take a precautionary approach, both in our state and as a global community.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Seabed Mining Prevention Act.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)Seabed mineral mining is not consistent with the public interest, public trust, or public rights to navigation and fishing that are three key principles of the common law public trust doctrine embodied in the California Constitution: the right to fish, pursuant to Section 25 of Article I, the right to navigate, pursuant to Section 3 of Article X, and the right to access public tidelands and submerged lands, pursuant to Section 4 of Article X.

(b)Seabed mining poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state. It is in the best interest of the people of California that leasing for hard mineral mining at the seafloor be prohibited.

(c)California marine waters are home to rich, diverse, and globally significant ecosystems, including the deepwater column seafloor. These environments host millions of species, a biodiversity that may even be richer than tropical rainforests. The extent of this diversity is still largely unknown, which makes its disruption by industrial-scale mining a perilous choice.

(d)The seafloor has provided compounds to help treat damage, from cancer to inflammation and nerve damage, and compounds used for analyzing illness.

(e)Californias deepwater column and seafloor are critically important to people: indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities maintain strong spiritual, cultural, and economic connections to the deep ocean.

(f)Seabed mining could erode the sovereignty and harm the ancestral lands and waters of California Native American tribes.

(g)Seabed mining poses risks to the states existing ocean-dependent industries, including commercial fishing, recreational fishing, and tourism.

(h)The damage from seabed mining could take several forms. Large machinery could remove or destroy entire communities of sponges, corals, kelp forests, and other marine life. Sediment clouds, some capable of traveling long distances, could smother or negatively impact the feeding and reproduction of other marine life, including plankton, benthic fish like halibut and groundfish, and pelagic fish like salmon, tuna, billfish, and forage species. These sediment plumes as well as the associated noise may negatively impact whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals throughout the region. Also at risk are the breathtaking beaches, tide pools, and rocky reaches that help support a multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

(i)The legislatures of the States of Oregon and Washington have both passed analogous legislation to prohibit seabed mining in their state waters, in 1991 and 2021, respectively. The call for a global moratorium on seabed mining has grown, arising from indigenous peoples, citizens, scientists, and companies in technology and car manufacturing that require hard minerals. In June of 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a moratorium on seabed mining. In September 2021, 81 governments and governmental agencies attending the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress voted in favor of a moratorium.

(j)California state waters do not represent a marketable source for battery metals, the emerging justification for extraction interest at the seafloor globally. The most likely interest would occur for two different types of extraction in two distinct geographic areas: (1) Californias north coast, in the hunt for gold, titanium, and other precious and semiprecious metals; and (2) the Southern California Bight, searching for phosphorites typically used in industrial fertilizer and not currently in short supply.

(k)Leasing authority for Californias tidelands and submerged lands is held with the State Lands Commission, except for those instances where the Legislature has granted in trust the states sovereign lands to local governments to manage on behalf of the state. In the absence of legislation, California is required to accept applications for hard mineral exploration and extraction leases along its coast, and to consider those applications on a case-by-case basis.

(l)An estimated 0.01 percent of the deep seafloor has been explored worldwide. History is fraught with hard lessons learned about destroying that which what we do not know or understand. The issue of seabed mining emphasizes the need to take a precautionary approach, both in our state and as a global community.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Seabed Mining Prevention Act.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)Seabed mineral mining is not consistent with the public interest, public trust, or public rights to navigation and fishing that are three key principles of the common law public trust doctrine embodied in the California Constitution: the right to fish, pursuant to Section 25 of Article I, the right to navigate, pursuant to Section 3 of Article X, and the right to access public tidelands and submerged lands, pursuant to Section 4 of Article X.

(b)Seabed mining poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state. It is in the best interest of the people of California that leasing for hard mineral mining at the seafloor be prohibited.

(c)California marine waters are home to rich, diverse, globally significant ecosystems, including the deepwater column seafloor. These environments host millions of species, a biodiversity that may even be richer than tropical rainforests. The extent of this diversity is still largely unknown, which makes its disruption by industrial-scale mining a perilous choice.

(d)The seafloor has provided compounds to help treat damage, from cancer to inflammation and nerve damage, and compounds used for analyzing illness.

(e)Californias deepwater column and seafloor are critically important to people: indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities maintain strong spiritual, cultural, and economic connections to the deep ocean.

(f)Seabed mining could erode the sovereignty and harm the ancestral lands and waters of California Native American tribes.

(g)Seabed mining poses risks to the states existing ocean-dependent industries, including commercial fishing, recreational fishing, and tourism.

(h)The damage from seabed mining could take several forms. Large machinery could remove or destroy entire communities of sponges, corals, kelp forests, and other marine life. Sediment clouds, some capable of traveling long distances, could smother or negatively impact the feeding and reproduction of other marine life, including plankton, benthic fish like halibut and groundfish, and pelagic fish like salmon, tuna, billfish, and forage species. These sediment plumes as well as the associated noise may negatively impact whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals throughout the region. Also at risk are the breathtaking beaches, tide pools, and rocky reaches that help support a multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

(i)The legislatures of the States of Oregon and Washington have both passed analogous legislation to prohibit seabed mining in their state waters, in 1991 and 2021, respectively. The call for a global moratorium on seabed mining has grown, arising from indigenous peoples, citizens, scientists, and companies in technology and car manufacturing that require hard minerals. In June of 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a moratorium on seabed mining. In September 2021, 81 governments and governmental agencies attending the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress voted in favor of a moratorium.

(j)California state waters do not represent a marketable source for battery metals, the emerging justification for extraction interest at the seafloor globally. The most likely interest would occur for two different types of extraction in two distinct geographic areas: (1) Californias north coast, in the hunt for gold, titanium, and other precious and semiprecious metals; and (2) the Southern California Bight, searching for phosphorites typically used in industrial fertilizer and not currently in short supply.

(k)Leasing authority for Californias tidelands and submerged lands is held with the State Lands Commission, except for those instances where the Legislature has granted in trust the states sovereign lands to local governments to manage on behalf of the state. In the absence of legislation, California is required to accept applications for hard mineral exploration and extraction leases along its coast, and to consider those applications on a case-by-case basis.

(l)An estimated 0.01 percent of the deep seafloor has been explored worldwide. History is fraught with hard lessons learned about destroying that which we do not know or understand. The issue of seabed mining emphasizes the need to take a precautionary approach, both in our state and as a global community.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Seabed Mining Prevention Act.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)Seabed mineral mining is not consistent with the public interest, public trust, or public rights to navigation and fishing that are three key principles of the common law public trust doctrine embodied in the California Constitution: the right to fish, pursuant to Section 25 of Article I, the right to navigate, pursuant to Section 3 of Article X, and the right to access public tidelands and submerged lands, pursuant to Section 4 of Article X.

(b)Seabed mining poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state. It is in the best interest of the people of California that leasing for hard mineral mining at the seafloor be prohibited.

(c)California marine waters are home to rich, diverse, globally significant ecosystems, including the deepwater column seafloor. These environments host millions of species, a biodiversity that may even be richer than tropical rainforests. The extent of this diversity is still largely unknown, which makes its disruption by industrial-scale mining a perilous choice.

(d)The seafloor has provided compounds to help treat damage, from cancer to inflammation and nerve damage, and compounds used for analyzing illness.

(e)Californias deepwater column and seafloor are critically important to people: indigenous, settler, and immigrant communities maintain strong spiritual, cultural, and economic connections to the deep ocean.

(f)Seabed mining could erode the sovereignty and harm the ancestral lands and waters of California Native American tribes.

(g)Seabed mining poses risks to the states existing ocean-dependent industries, including commercial fishing, recreational fishing, and tourism.

(h)The damage from seabed mining could take several forms. Large machinery could remove or destroy entire communities of sponges, corals, kelp forests, and other marine life. Sediment clouds, some capable of traveling long distances, could smother or negatively impact the feeding and reproduction of other marine life, including plankton, benthic fish like halibut and groundfish, and pelagic fish like salmon, tuna, billfish, and forage species. These sediment plumes as well as the associated noise may negatively impact whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals throughout the region. Also at risk are the breathtaking beaches, tide pools, and rocky reaches that help support a multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

(i)The legislatures of the States of Oregon and Washington have both passed analogous legislation to prohibit seabed mining in their state waters, in 1991 and 2021, respectively. The call for a global moratorium on seabed mining has grown, arising from indigenous peoples, citizens, scientists, and companies in technology and car manufacturing that require hard minerals. In June of 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a moratorium on seabed mining. In September 2021, 81 governments and governmental agencies attending the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress voted in favor of a moratorium.

(j)California state waters do not represent a marketable source for battery metals, the emerging justification for extraction interest at the seafloor globally. The most likely interest would occur for two different types of extraction in two distinct geographic areas: (1) Californias north coast, in the hunt for gold, titanium, and other precious and semiprecious metals; and (2) the Southern California Bight, searching for phosphorites typically used in industrial fertilizer and not currently in short supply.

(k)Leasing authority for Californias tidelands and submerged lands is held with the State Lands Commission, except for those instances where the Legislature has granted in trust the states sovereign lands to local governments to manage on behalf of the state. In the absence of legislation, California is required to accept applications for hard mineral exploration and extraction leases along its coast, and to consider those applications on a case-by-case basis.

(l)An estimated 0.01 percent of the deep seafloor has been explored worldwide. History is fraught with hard lessons learned about destroying that which we do not know or understand. The issue of seabed mining emphasizes the need to take a precautionary approach, both in our state and as a global community.