December 8, 2025 — Saipan residents packed an amphitheater last week to voice concerns about deep-sea mining plans off the Marianas, with local leaders warning the federal government is steamrolling territories without adequate input or financial benefit.
A Dec. 3 forum at American Memorial Park drew community members as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 30-day comment period on a request for information, or RFI, nears its Friday deadline. The meeting revealed deep skepticism about the process and mounting frustration over territorial sovereignty.
“This is not self-government where people will just come in and dictate what they’re going to do to your resources,” said Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Rep. Vincent “Kobre” Aldan, who chairs the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications. “Self-government is very powerful. That’s the reason why we negotiated.”
Aldan pointed to the U.S. Constitution’s Territorial Clause as the legal foundation allowing the federal government to act unilaterally in territorial waters. He urged Pacific islanders to unite in challenging the provision, which grants Congress broad authority over U.S. territories.
“Can we beat it? Yes, we can. How? By numbers,” Aldan said. “If we can work together with our territorial brothers and sisters, not just here in the Pacific, but also in the Caribbean, and by numbers, sign a petition, get a resolution going, and send it up to the U.S. Congress, then they’ll listen.”
The forum brought together marine scientists, traditional navigators, economists, and government officials to discuss the proposed mining area east of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The site sits about 128 nautical miles from Saipan in federal waters beyond the CNMI’s three-mile territorial boundary.
Governors David Apatang of the CNMI and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam have jointly requested a 120-day extension to the comment period, which had not been granted as of Monday, when the BOEM RFI docket page at regulations.gov showed 224 comments received.
Sheila Babauta, chair of Friends of the Mariana Trench, told The Guam Daily Post in an interview last week that her organization opposes the RFI and supports the extension request. She noted the document contains an error describing the proposed area as west of the trench when it’s actually to the east.