Please add your business to the letter against seabed mining to protect our economy, communities and ways of life. The letter will be shared with decision-makers throughout Washington.

UPDATE: State Senators Kevin Van de Wege and Christine Rolfes have introduced SB 5145 which would prohibit leases for seabed mining for hard minerals in state waters. Sign the letter below to continue demonstrating support for this action.
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Dear Governor Inslee and Washington State Legislators:

We the undersigned businesses are writing to encourage you to prohibit seabed mining before this destructive practice emerges in Washington. Our marine environment supports thousands of jobs, diverse cultures, and robust recreational opportunities. Seabed mining would severely harm our coastal quality of life.

Around the world, interest in seabed mining is on the rise, and this threat may soon loom off our own shores. Just this August, the Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration company indicated it will continue to push a phosphate seabed mining project in Mexico’s federal waters (Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ) despite two permit rejections. Without appropriate protections in place, Washington is vulnerable to similarly persistent and well-financed efforts by mining corporations attracted to the mineral leasing opportunities the state currently offers.

Seabed mining - extracting gold, titanium, phosphorus and other minerals from the seafloor - would damage our coastal ecosystems and communities. Scraping and suction dredging of the seafloor will damage or destroy fragile but critical habitat, displacing or killing marine life and disrupting these important ecosystems. Marine mining operations generate large toxin-laced sediment plumes that negatively impact commercially and recreationally important fisheries, marine mammals, and kelp, and pose a significant threat to filter feeders, jeopardizing Washington's economically and culturally vital shellfish industry. Currents can carry these plumes long distances, threatening our estuaries, beaches, and tidepools.

Similar to the ban already in place in Oregon, seabed mining for hard minerals should be prohibited outright in Washington state waters given the importance of a healthy marine environment to our fisheries, wildlife, coastal communities, and regional economy. Please work with other decision-makers in our state to prevent seabed mining in Washington.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
[We the undersigned]