, Columnist
The Real Problem With Deep-Sea Mining Is It Won’t Make Money
Fears of ecosystem damage are tendentious. The issue is volatile commodity prices that will make it hard to finance projects.
New frontier.
Photographer: Pallava Bagla/Corbis News via Getty Images
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As if the world wasn’t in enough trouble from the warmest week ever measured and record-low sea ice around Antarctica, big business is already gearing up to ransack yet another unspoiled corner of the globe: the deep ocean.
The International Seabed Authority, or ISA, the United Nations body that regulates exploitation of the deep sea floor, will decide in the next few weeks on an application by the Pacific island state of Nauru to open up mining 5 kilometers (3 miles) below the Pacific.