*

Trump's order aims to boost U.S. access to critical

minerals

*

Environmental groups warn of irreversible biodiversity

loss

*

Congressional hearing shows partisan divide on deep-sea

mining

(Adds details throughout from congressional hearing,

background)

By Ernest Scheyder

April 29 (Reuters) -

Deep-sea mining firm The Metals Co asked the Trump

administration on Tuesday to approve its plans to mine the

international seabed, making it the first such company to seek

the government's permission to operate outside U.S. territorial

waters.

Last week President Donald Trump signed an order aiming

to jumpstart mining in both domestic and international waters in

an attempt to boost U.S. access to critical minerals and reduce

China's market control.

The move ratchets up tension between Washington and the

United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority, which has

been crafting mining standards for more than a decade, while

China objected to the order as a violation of international law.

Parts of the world's oceans are estimated to contain large

amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules

filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles and

electronics.

Supporters of deep-sea mining say it would lessen the need

for large mining operations on land, which are often unpopular

with host communities. Environmental groups are calling for the

activity to be banned, warning that industrial operations on the

ocean floor could cause irreversible biodiversity loss.

Any country can allow deep-sea mining in its own territorial

waters, roughly up to 200 nautical miles from shore, and

companies are already lining up to mine U.S. waters.

Vancouver-based The Metals Co asked the U.S. Department of

Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a

commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral

Resources Act of 1980 to operate in part of the Pacific Ocean

between Hawaii and Mexico known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

The application was timed to coincide with a Tuesday hearing

on deep-sea mining by a U.S. House of Representatives

subcommittee at which Gerard Barron, CEO of The Metals Co,

testified.

"America has an urgent need for critical minerals. It needs

to secure these metals," said Barron, who estimated the company

could extract more than 1 billion nodules containing manganese,

copper, nickel and cobalt that would supply U.S. needs for

decades.

Glencore ( GLCNF ) has agreed to buy metals the company

extracts from the seabed.

The Metals Co expects an initial determination for whether

the commercial application meets U.S. regulatory requirements

within 60 days, after which an environmental and technical

review of the full application would commence. It also applied

for two exploration licenses in the zone.

Representatives for NOAA were not immediately available to

comment.

Greenpeace's Louisa Casson said the application would be

remembered as an act of disregard for international law and

scientific consensus and encouraged other governments to defend

international rules and cooperation against "rogue" deep-sea

mining.

Shares of The Metals Co lost 1.7% to $3.25 in Tuesday

afternoon trading.

HEARING

The congressional hearing was organized by Republicans, many

of whom support the nascent deep-sea mining industry.

"(It) can significantly help America buck the supply chain

yoke placed on us by China and re-establish mineral

independence," said Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona

Republican.

Democrats pushed back, calling deep-sea mining uneconomical

and a form of "subsidized plunder" of the world's oceans.

"The industry's financial models are based on wildly

optimistic assumptions and fail to reflect the volatility and

reality of global mineral markets," said Representative Maxine

Dexter, an Oregon Democrat.

Privately-held Impossible Metals, which has asked

Washington to auction American Samoa's minerals, told the

hearing it had no plans to operate without conducting more

environmental testing.

An engineering expert from the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology told the hearing the effects of deep-sea mining

may not be as severe as some people have speculated but added

the practice requires robust regulation.