Congress Kills Key Boundary Waters Protections

The primary beneficiary is a Chilean mining giant.

A wilderness camp in the Boundary Waters. (Courtesy of Jimmy Tobias)

The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday to roll back a mining ban on land adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a move that will primarily benefit a foreign mining corporation.

It is an unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act — a little-known law that allows Congress to rescind regulatory rules — and slashes protections for an iconic Midwestern wilderness area prized for its canoeing, camping and fishing. Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta Plc, has for years angled to establish a copper-nickel mine on national forest land near the wilderness area. Among other things, the company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire influential Trump-aligned lobbyists in D.C. to push its agenda.

In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) warned that the GOP move “would have far-reaching consequences not just for the beautiful Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, but public lands across our country.” An emotional Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called it “a dark day” for the Senate and a “boondoggle.”

The House of Representatives passed the measure back in January. It now heads to the White House for Trump’s signature.

Environmental and conservation groups have staunchly opposed the rollback of the mineral withdrawal that has shielded a quarter million acres in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest from mining development in order to protect the watershed from pollution.

But Trump and his Republican colleagues in Congress have repeatedly tried to undo the Boundary Waters protections as part of their development-first agenda that prioritizes mineral, energy and timber development over conservation.

To learn more about the controversy over the Republican campaign to strip conservation protections from the Boundary Waters, see Jimmy Tobias’s story below.

Chris D’Angelo contributed to this report.