The U.S. government plans to hold public hearings in late January on a license application by The Metals Company to explore the bottom of the ocean for places to mine. The government is also seeking comments on the application by the Vancouver-based company until February, according to a notice published on the country’s federal register on Tuesday. (The Logic)

Talking point: While The Metals Company holds active exploration permits from the U.N.’s International Seabed Authority, the U.S. government has promised to expedite seabed mining as it looks for alternatives to China-based critical minerals miners. The Metals Company has praised the U.S. government’s regulatory approach as “stable, transparent and enforceable.” Still, the hearings are likely to test how much opposition seabed mining might face from some environmental scientists, who are skeptical of the seabed-mining process, and from other countries that oppose the practice.