SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) 鈥� A legal environmental group sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, a month after the Trump administration announced surrounding American Samoa for potential .
Earthjustice filed the federal lawsuit against the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on behalf of two groups: Fa鈥榓sao Amerika Samoa and Conservation Council for Hawai鈥榠.
The legal nonprofit is requesting that a judge order the National Marine Fisheries Service to stop moving forward with its plans and to comply with the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.
鈥淭he United States has never opened its waters to . Until now,鈥� the lawsuit stated.
It noted that the U.S. plans to sell leases with the intention of allowing mining across some 33 million acres (about 51,560 square miles) of seabed off that is rich in minerals including nickel, cobalt and manganese that are used to build batteries, electronics and other products.
The lawsuit stated that the U.S. first must ensure that such activity will not destroy critical habitats or push species closer to extinction.
The environmental group called a recent decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service that leases would not affect critical habitat or endangered or threatened species 鈥渁 wholly arbitrary and capricious determination.鈥�
鈥淭he Samoan people rely upon a healthy ocean ecosystem,鈥� the lawsuit reads. 鈥淭his ecosystem feeds Samoan households, protects shorelines, and has formed the basis of many cultural practices that have existed for over a millennium.鈥�
It noted that many animals around American Samoa also migrate to Hawaiian waters, including sea turtles known as 鈥渋鈥榓 sa,鈥� which means 鈥渟acred fish.鈥�
American Samoa views whales, sharks, giant manta rays and other animals as sacred, and there鈥檚 a ban on catching or harming such species.
The environmental group asserted that failure to comply with U.S. acts is harming 鈥減rofessional, scientific, educational, aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural interests鈥� in American Samoan and Hawaiian waters.
It said that waters surrounding American Samoa support 鈥渞are and diverse marine species” including shallow and mesophotic coral reefs, sponges, crabs, deep-sea cucumbers, sea turtles and hundreds of coral and fish species.
The organization noted that the waters serve as habitat to five sea turtle populations and four types of whales that are all endangered, as well as five coral species and four animals including the giant manta ray that are threatened.
The area that the U.S. envisions leasing is located 57 miles (92 kilometers) from the Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump even as dozens of countries have called for a moratorium or ban on deep sea mining because of environmental concerns including noise, light and suffocating dust storms.
鈥淭o date, there has not been a commercial seabed mining operation established anywhere in the world,鈥� Earthjustice said in its lawsuit.
The International Seabed Authority, a Jamaica-based U.N. body that oversees deep international waters, has authorized exploration licenses for nearly two dozen contractors, but it has not allowed any commercial mining.
Much of the ongoing exploration is centered in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between and Mexico.
The U.S. has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, so the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulates U.S. exploration and commercial recovery of minerals.
A spokesperson with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 fisheries service told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it was unable to comment on litigation matters.
The U.S. Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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