Senate Republicans scrap mining ban in Minnesota's Boundary Waters preserve

(CN) — The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to lift a Biden-era ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of the most expansive areas of federally protected land in the country.

By a 50-49 vote, Republican senators passed a resolution — now sent to President Donald Trump for approval — to repeal a ban on mining across over 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in the northern part of the state.

The resolution revokes a January 2023 Public Land Order protecting federal land in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters and Voyageur National Park from the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining for 20 years.

Senate Republicans introduced the resolution under the Congressional Review Act of 1996, which allows the reversal of recent federal regulations with a majority vote.

Chilean mining giant Antofagasta and its subsidiary, Twin Metals Minnesota, seek to build a controversial copper and nickel mine near the wilderness area previously blocked by the Biden administration.

Environmental, fishing and hunting groups, among others, warn toxic mine runoff could contaminate the Boundary Waters’ lakes and streams with heavy metals, acid and other substances.

Ingrid Lyons, director of Save the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, watched the vote pass in person and spoke of profound disappointment with the likely impact on public lands in America.

“Public lands unite people across divides, because you can be anywhere and you’re an owner of American public lands,” she said. “It gives you an unfortunate insight into where American politics are today … it’s dark, because the people in that body and the way they voted was not in representation of their constituents.”

Lyons said this type of mining has never been done without some form of pollution to surface and groundwater — a risk exacerbated by the climate and interconnectivity of the Boundary Waters.

“This industry, in this place, in this type of ecosystem is too risky,” Lyons said. “These are not potentials for this type of mine, but guarantees.”

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Democrats from Minnesota, joined all Senate Democrats in opposing the measure, with Smith speaking for hours against the proposal Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

“You can support mining, but that does not mean that you support every mine in every place,” Smith said Thursday. “We can support the need for mining, but that doesn’t mean that we mine on the edge of the Grand Canyon … and it does not mean that we think that a copper sulfide mine on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters is a good idea.”

Smith, who has long scorned the “legislative gymnastics” she claims the Senate undertook to greenlight the mine, said earlier this week this decision could open a “Pandora’s box of threats” to all other public lands.

“One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, and they will regret what they did to the Boundary Waters today — because this was a mistake,” Smith said in a post on X following the vote. “They’ve set a new precedent that no public lands are ever truly safe.”

Lyons agreed, believing many Republicans likely acknowledge privately the concerning use of the Congressional Review Act.

“It’s really a commitment to moving away from process, a commitment to doing whatever we want at the behest of an administration and foreign mining conglomerates,” she said.

Two Republicans senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted against the proposal.

U.S. Representative Pete Stauber, a Duluth Republican who introduced the resolution in the House, celebrated the passage of the bill in a post on X Thursday.

Stauber said in January reversing the mining ban will protect Northern Minnesota jobs and strengthen national security through domestic production — calling Biden’s decision to enact the ban an attack on Minnesota’s way of life.

Lyons, who first visited the Northern Minnesota wilderness area at the age of 4, said the mining operation is less of an “economically viable” choice, and instead a clear favoring of one type of industry over another.

“I genuinely struggle to understand where along that process the American people benefit,” she said. “Where American people benefit is access to clean, accessible public lands that belong to everybody and sustain a sustainable economy for a region that has so much potential if we stop shooting ourselves in the foot with this pretend silver bullet.”

Nonprofit environmental law organization Earthjustice said Thursday Congress has betrayed the millions of Americans who treasure this “unparalleled wilderness.”

“The Boundary Waters belong to everyone,” Julie Goodwin, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in apress release. “They should be protected and enjoyed by all, not jeopardized to benefit a wealthy foreign company.”

The Boundary Waters stretches for around 150 miles along Minnesota’s border with Canada, featuring vast forests and lakes explored by tens of thousands of canoeists, kayakers, campers and backpackers each year.

Conservation advocacy groups claim the opening of mines on the edge of the Boundary Waters area could threaten the economic benefits tourists and outdoor enthusiasts bring every year when seeking refuge in the land of 10,000 lakes.

It’s also home to a biodiverse ecosystem, including moose, black bears, timber wolves, Canada lynx and over 200 bird species largely left alone.

Despite Thursday’s vote, conservation groups say the fight is far from over.

“We’ll make our arguments, we will build the record, as we’ve done for over a decade,” Lyons said. “The war is long, and this is just one battle, and I do believe we’ll prevail on this.”

Obtaining necessary permits from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources can also halt or delay a project for years.

In 2023, the Army Corps of Engineers revoked a Clean Water Act permit in a project similar to Twin Metals’ proposal, finding a proposed copper-nickel mine had not adequately shown it wouldn’t damage protected waterways.

“Passage of the CRA marks a critical moment for our nation’s ability to strengthen our mineral supply chains,” Twin Metals Minnesota spokesperson Kathy Graul told Courthouse News, identifying the Duluth Complex as the world’s largest undeveloped copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals deposit.

“A significant portion of these resources were locked up as a result of the mineral withdrawal enacted in 2023, negatively impacting communities across the Iron Range,” she said.

Graul said Twin Metals looks forward to a “robust discussion and engagement” with Minnesota communities through any future regulatory processes to earn permits.