Congress Considers Repeal of Protections Near Boundary Waters

(Adobe Stock via Minnesota News Connection)

(By Mike Moen. Minnesota News Connection) – Often described as a pristine wilderness, Minnesota’s Boundary Waters is now steeped in a renewed effort to fend off mining interests.

A bill making its way through Congress would reverse recent protections. A few years ago, the Biden administration implemented a 20-year ban on mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, but last week Republicans in the U.S. House advanced a measure that would essentially nullify that ban. If the Senate goes along, it’s expected that President Donald Trump would sign it, and environmental groups say that would likely jump-start a proposed copper-nickel mine for this region.

Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, said the project would be upstream, exposing waterways to “acid mine drainage” from this type of industrial activity.

“No mine of this type has actually ever been done without some form of pollution to surrounding ground and surface water,” she said.

A body of research from special interest groups, citing federal Environmental Protection Agency findings, suggests that between 92% and 100% of hard rock mining results in pollution.