Lawmakers are looking to use every available tool under Guam’s authority to prevent deep sea mining near its waters as the federal government plows ahead.

“We just have to show the whole world in every way possible that there is a community of people, indigenous people and other people who will be directly impacted by this,” said Senator Therese Terlaje

Senator Terlaje’s Bill 253 seeks to prohibit and deter seabed mining in the waters of Guam and the surrounding sea.

This comes as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management doubled the area of consideration despite more than 65,000 public comments in opposition.

Now more than 69 million acres are being eyed for development, just 46 miles from Guam.

“All it took was interest from other private companies for BOM to expand their area to nearly double. Meanwhile, the people of Guam and the people of all the islands in the Pacific that are against these actions, our voices are not heard at all when it comes to our objections to this process,” said Chelsa Muna, Director of the Guam Department of Agriculture.

The bill represents a concrete legislative step recommended by the DOA, according to Director Chelsa Muna.

“Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington have enacted similar bans and Guam must join them,” added Muna.

In February, Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio met directly with BOEM officials, but muna says they didn’t adequately answer GovGuam’s questions.

“Who monitors environmental impacts this far from shore, who bears liability when harm occurs and whether the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement has the capacity to enforce protections in our waters,” said Muna.

That meeting came just as BOEM made a move to fasttrack deep sea mining by proposing to cut review times and permitting times.

Meanwhile, the Governor’s Military and Regional Affairs Advisor, Carlotta Leon Guerrero, says Adelup also requested the Congressman’s help to look into how other states being eyed for resources have been able to get themselves off BOEM’s list.

“And it turns out, it was like either DoD supporting it because they had conflicting training, military training, or that they had a personal relationship with President Trump and were able to get themselves off the list. But we are following everything that we can to try to find anything at all that we can add ourselves on to,” said Carlotta Leon Guerrero.

Meantime, Prutehi Guahan’s Monaeka Flores spoke on this video that appears to show boem’s area of interest overlapping with the military’s Marianas Islands Training and Testing (MITT) study area.

“And so we are seeing these pressures compounding in our direct environments and in our ocean environments,” said Flores.