A Bay Area financial analyst wants a piece of this mineral-rich seabed surrounded by three Pacific nations

This is a story about ocean mining policy, not home energy upgrades, so it doesn't affect your house directly. But here's what happened.

A San Francisco financial analyst named Graham Goulet is asking the Trump administration for a lease to explore 25 million acres of international waters in the Pacific for manganese and other minerals used in batteries and other technologies. The area sits in international waters surrounded by French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and Kiribati, and it's rich in tuna fishing. Goulet's company, American Deep Sea Minerals, doesn't own any mining ships or equipment and appears to have no website. A lawyer who reviewed the application called it "not a mining company, it's an idea" — one that could gain value once it holds a U.S. license, even without the means to act on it.

The application relies on a 1980 U.S. law that lets the government permit seabed mining outside the international treaty process most nations use. It's one of at least a dozen similar applications the administration has received, and it's open for public comment through August 3. French Polynesia has banned seabed mining and recently expanded ocean protections, while the Cook Islands and Kiribati are still weighing whether to allow it, citing potential revenue for their economies. Scientists warn that mining waste could harm zooplankton and fish stocks, including tuna, that pass through the area.