Coastal Zone Implications of Deep Seabed Mining

While deep seabed mining for manganese nodules will take place hundreds of miles from the U.S. coasts, there are coastal zone implications brought about by the need for onshore facilities. As part of an on-going effort by the Department of Commerce\´s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop information suitable for use in an environmental impact statement (EIS) on deep seabed mining, NOAA and Texas A&M University (TAMU) colloborated on a study to develop onshore facility location criteria for the Gulf Coast. Application of these criteria resulted in the identification of several likely geographical areas and permits a broad assessment of what onshore facilities would mean to "host" areas.