This is a story about the pen of a president and potato-sized rocks that begins in the deep sea.

The deep sea contains a lot of metal, especially in this one area, the Clarion-Clipperton zone.

This is an area that stretches from Hawaii to about Mexico in international waters, so an enormous ocean space.

Diva Aman is a Caribbean marine biologist, and she is worried about the fact that this pristine environment has caught the attention of commercial industries.

Because this area contains billions of tons of what are known as polymetallic nodules.

There are these cherry-to-potato sizepotto-potto-potto-potter-size lumps of metal, if you will,

that sit on top of the sediment. That also contains something the electric vehicle and other

industries want, rare earth minerals like nickel and cobalt. Derard Barron, the CEO of the Canadian

startup, the metals company, wants to be the

first to mine these nodules for commercial use. Barron spoke to reporter Daniel Ackerman for NPR

earlier this year. They literally sit there like golf balls on a driving range. We can pick those

nodules up and turn them into metals at a fraction of the environmental

and human impacts compared to land-based mining.

But is that true?

Is deep sea mining really that harmless?

The Trump administration thinks so.

In April, President Trump gave companies like the metals company an opening.

He signed an executive order to fast track deep sea mining in both federal and international

waters, which includes the Clarion-Clipperton zone.

But Amon, the biologist you heard earlier, says this puts the U.S. at odds with nearly

every other country in the world as they wait for the UN's international seabed authority

to finalize regulations for everyone.

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