EMILY KWONG, HOST:

The Trump administration announced this past week that it has entered talks with the Cook Islands to research and develop seabed mineral resources. The Polynesian archipelago is one of only a handful of countries worldwide that has begun permitting this type of exploration called deep-sea mining. Now, deep-sea mining is not regulated. There's no blueprint for how to do it safely nor responsibly, which is why, for the last decade, the U.N.'s International Seabed Authority has worked to draw up regulations. But President Trump and one Canadian company have posed a question - why wait? Here to tell us more is Beth Orcutt. She's an oceanographer and the vice president for research at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. Beth, welcome.

BETH ORC

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