Posted on April 15, 2026
That first step onto Virginia Beach’s wide and seemingly endless beach, the gust of salty air as you take a boat out to sea, and the excitement of seeing dolphins cresting through the waves: these are just some of the vivid experiences Virginians and visitors alike enjoy when they make a trip to our coastline.
But this marine wonderland faces a new threat: in December, the Department of Interior announced the potential leasing of areas off the coast of Virginia for seabed mining.
Virginia’s coast is too valuable to risk
The Virginia coast is a place of breathtaking interactions with wildlife. For stretches of the year, it’s very common to spot bottlenose dolphins, fish, sea turtles, and even migratory whales.
Underwater, seafloor habitats nurture the eggs, larvae, and young fish of species like the summer flounder and are home to incredible species like the sand dollar and the frilled anemone. Several adult tuna species are found here, including the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can grow up to thirteen feet long and weigh a whopping 2,000 pounds.
Aside from being a place of recreation and discovery, these coastal waters are also vital for endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale and the Atlantic sturgeon.
During their yearly migration route, many of the 380 remaining North Atlantic right whales travel along Virginia’s coast as they make their way to and from the warm, shallow waters of their southeast calving grounds. Endangered Atlantic sturgeons, a prehistoric fish species that has been swimming the ocean since the era of the dinosaur, also traverse our state’s coastal waters to reach the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s rivers to spawn.
Now, this intricate habitat where kids and adults alike are moved by dolphins, underwater habitats, and the wonder of all ocean life faces a new threat: seabed mining
Heavy mineral sand mining puts Virginia’s ocean life at risk
In December 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced it was considering leasing federal waters off of Virginia’s coastline to companies for heavy mineral sand mining.
This type of mining would be destructive where it takes place: just like dredging projects, sand mining uses heavy machinery to plow through the seabed, breaking up sand and sediments to be vacuumed into large ships.
Mining projects would decimate seafloor habitats, removing the species that live on the seafloor alongside the habitat itself, which can change the make up of species in the area and even lead to local extinctions. This includes lethal impacts to young fish, eggs, and larvae found near the seabed that are unable to move out of the way of the dredging area. Ecosystems that are impacted could take years to recover.
Dredging equipment plowing through the sand can also disperse heavy metals or organic contaminants that have accumulated in the sediment over time. These contaminants can be consumed by wildlife and may accumulate to toxic levels. Depending on contamination levels, wildlife can suffer a range of harmful consequences from reduced prey availability to reproductive and developmental effects.
Disturbing the sand also creates clouds of suspended particles called sediment plumes. These sediment plumes clog the vital feeding and breathing mechanisms of fish and important filter feeder organisms like the sea scallop.
We need to protect Virginia’s coast once again
Our coast is too valuable to risk for offshore mineral mining. Luckily, Virginian voices have protected our shore before.
In 2015 and 2018, when the Department of Interior put forward plans to start leasing for drilling off the Commonwealth’s coastline, Virginians pushed back, halting federal drilling plans and permanently protecting state waters from drilling.
That can happen again. If people across the Commonwealth, from coastal businesses, fishing groups and community members come together to once again protect our coastline from a new destructive industry, we can ensure our coast doesn’t have to suffer the unnecessary impacts of offshore extraction.
