She governs a US territory. But she has no say in who mines its waters.

The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to lease seafloor around Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands to mining companies looking for copper, manganese, nickel, and rare earth elements used in batteries and military technology. An auction covering 31 million acres around American Samoa is planned for mid-November, and one covering more than 67 million acres near the Mariana Islands is planned for December. Local governors say they learned about these plans from news reports, not from federal officials, despite earlier assurances that mining would not proceed without community support.

This isn't directly about home energy upgrades, but it touches the same minerals used in batteries, including those in electric vehicles and home battery storage systems. The administration frames the leases as a way to secure critical minerals and reduce reliance on China, which currently dominates the global supply chain for these materials. Whether this affects future battery costs or availability isn't yet clear, since deep-sea mining has never been done at commercial scale and no leases have been finalized.

For homeowners, the immediate relevance is limited: this is a territorial and environmental policy story, not a program or rebate that affects your house. Residents of Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands have raised concerns about impacts on fishing, marine ecosystems, and traditional culture, along with a lack of legal guarantees for revenue sharing or environmental protections. Lawsuits are pending, and it remains uncertain when or whether mining will actually begin.