Won’t somebody please think of the cables?

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) received 76,443 public comments regarding its plan to lease U.S. waters for mining off the coast of American Samoa.

A completely unscientific survey by the Spotlight reveals that many of those comments are from the usual suspects: mining firms, environmental NGO’s, and grassroots activists.

But one entry, a 5-page PDF complete with maps and diagrams, came from an unexpected source: Google LLC, one of the world’s most valuable companies.

The tech giant is concerned about data cables. Those fiber optic superhighways carry the internet across oceans for the world to enjoy and/or loathe. Google wants to keep it that way. The firm implored BOEM to “presume that deep seabed mining operations pose a perpetual threat to nearby subsea cables” and to regulate accordingly.

This type of industrial squabble will only grow more common as governments advance plans for deep seabed mining (DSM). So it’s worth taking a look at how DSM could impact other ocean users like the telecom sector.

Who cares about cables?

This newsletter was likely not beamed to you via satellite, according to Kevin Frazier, the AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law: “99% of all internet traffic travels over garden hose-sized cables that are connecting every country, every major city, around the world.”

About 700 of those cables travel beneath the ocean. But Frazier says they’re “incredibly fragile.” In the deep ocean, the cables are generally unarmored, just laying on the seabed.

Anything from a sliding rock to a tsunami can spell disaster. In 2022, a volcanic eruption severed a cable and caused a nationwide internet blackout in Tonga. It took more than a month to repair.

Fixes are slow, in part because only a few dozen cable repair ships exist worldwide, says Frazier. “So if you are a cable owner – like Google, like Meta, like Amazon or Microsoft – you have a real financial interest in making sure that your cables are protected.”

What Google wants

As described in its comment to BOEM, Google is building a new cable system connecting a bunch of islands in the South Pacific. The planned route passes directly through BOEM’s initially proposed lease area east of American Samoa.

Google writes that DSM activity here could sever its cable, even if by accident: “mining equipment deployed from the surface is likely to stray unpredictably during its miles-long descent to the bottom…many such impacts would be severe enough to damage a cable.” Google notes that any outages would likely cost the company millions of dollars per day.

To prevent this, Google asks BOEM to carve out a buffer zone around its cable where DSM would be forbidden. Google suggests a buffer width somewhere between 3-5 times the ocean depth along the cable route, which varies between about 5,500 to 6,000 meters.

And Google isn’t alone. Another comment, submitted by a telecom industry group called the North American Submarine Cable Association (NASCA), “notes with concern that although BOEM sought comment on potential conflicts with numerous other ocean activities, its RFII [request for information and interest] made no mention of submarine cables or their protection.” One of NASCA’s member companies also has a cable running through the proposed lease area.

It’s worth noting that BOEM is seeking to “expedite permitting and leasing processes for critical mineral resources,” even though the agency has never done any of this before, expedited or not.

For mining beyond U.S. waters, the International Seabed Authority has been consulting with the International Cable Protection Committee for more than a decade.

The comments by Google and other cable owners show that environmental groups aren’t the only ones concerned about DSM. Some of the world’s most powerful companies see their bottom lines at risk. They’re not suggesting DSM and the internet can’t possibly coexist – just that it’ll take some thought and planning.

A few author’s notes:

• Google’s comment to BOEM made no mention of the company’s call for a moratorium on DSM, a pledge the firm made in 2021.

• On the international stage, Impossible Metals this month applied for an exploration license from the ISA, with support from Bahrain. The company is seeking polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Impossible Metals is the same firm that asked BOEM to offer mining leases near American Samoa. Despite being based (mostly) in the U.S., Impossible Metals chose not to follow The Metals Company’s lead in seeking unilateral approval from the U.S. to mine beneath the high seas.

• India this week received its third exploration license from the ISA. The Spotlight has previously covered the country’s growing interest in DSM.