The United States has indicated that it will begin to explore commercial mining of mineral nodules on the international seabed, in violation of the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and the International Seabed Authority. These nodules contain a variety of minerals used in cell phones, electric cars and other high-tech devices and could reduce U.S. reliance on questionable sources of rare earth and other metals. Opponents counter that the ecological damage imposed by such mining would far outweigh any benefits.

But there is another argument for letting sleeping nodules lie: deep-sea mining is a multi-billion-dollar solution to problems that do not exist.  Join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a discussion with Professors D.G. Webster of Dartmouth College and Susan Park, from the University of Sydney.  They, along with several colleagues, recently published “The false promise of deep-sea mining,” a critique of the proposal focused on terrestrial mineral availability, limited social benefits and supply chain economics.