A battle that has been brewing over deep sea mining exploded last week. Activists from Greenpeace boarded a marine research vessel between Hawaii and Mexico on Saturday without the captain’s permission over concerns at the environmental impact of such mining.

The vessel in question was only researching the potential, but the company behind it has already confirmed plans to begin mining within a few years.

WBUR’s Daniel Ackerman has been tracking this complicated conflict. He joins host Scott Tong.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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