In a 50/49 vote Thursday morning, the Senate chose to overturn a 20-year mining ban on Superior National Forest outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Conservationists called it a major blow to public lands.
Despite passionate arguments from Democrats against H.J. Res. 140, which passed the House earlier this year, Senate Republicans banded together to approve the resolution. Just two Republican Senators joined Democrats to oppose the measure: Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was the only Senator who didn’t vote.
It was introduced in January by Rep. Pete Stauber, a House representative for northeastern Minnesota. Following the White House’s attacks on Iran, which began in February, Stauber wrote a March opinion column that said the extraction of minerals in Boundary Waters was necessary to support U.S. war efforts.
“Without these minerals, there are no fighter jets,” Rep. Stauber wrote for The Hill. “And without fighter jets, there is no Operation Epic Fury.”
Senate Democrats opposed the measure, as did a large coalition of grassroots organizations representing hunters, fishermen, and other outdoor recreation.
“I beseech you not to do this,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told the Senate on Thursday morning. “If you support this, colleagues, you are ignoring what Minnesota wants. You’re going to come down on the side of a Chilean billionaire and send it to China? If we’re lucky, that copper will be sold back to us at a profit. That is not an ‘America First’ strategy.”
What Does This Mean?
Sen. Smith was referring to Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chilean-based mining giant Antofagasta. The company had proposed the mine for copper, nickel, cobalt, and other critical minerals along Birch Lake, south of Ely, Minn., and within the watershed of the Boundary Waters.
Many grassroots organizations representing outdoor recreation opposed the resolution. They asked their supporters to call their senators before today’s vote on H.J. Res. 140. Regardless, the Senate’s decision today will result in a 20-year withdrawal of protections for more than 225,000 acres just upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
H.J. Res. 140 is a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at Public Land Order 7917. That order took effect on Jan. 31, 2023, and withdrew about 225,504 acres of Superior National Forest land from mineral and geothermal leasing for 20 years, subject to valid existing rights.
Overturning the Biden-era order using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) has other consequences as well. The CRA also blocks the government from issuing a similar rule later — unless Congress authorizes it. That’s why Democratic opponents said this decision was about more than just Minnesota’s public lands.
Several Democratic Senators pointed out that the CRA had never been used to rescind rules about the use of public lands. Doing so now would create a dangerous precedent, they argued on the Senate floor Thursday.
“This is wrong,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). “And why are we doing it? To pad the pockets of the president’s buddy from Chile? So he can take the American public’s minerals, send them to China, process them, and then sell them back to the American people with a tariff? Is that ‘America First?’ That’s America last.”
What Is Boundary Waters?
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a 1.1-million–acre area of land in northern Minnesota, close to Voyageurs National Park. It is located within the larger 3-million–acre Superior National Forest. Home to 1,200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails, and 2,000 designated campsites, it’s a popular outdoor recreation destination, and, according to a study, it contributed $77 million to the local economy in 2016.
U.S. Forest Service Data notes that 776,000 visitor permits were issued between 2020 and 2024. World-class fishing, paddling, and nature attract visitors to the area, which largely restricts motorized use. Wildlife such as loons, moose, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and ruffed grouse team in the area.
However, the nearby land is also rich in minerals. Twin Metals has been pushing to open a copper mine in the Superior National Forest on the fringe of the BWCAW. Conservationists said it could contaminate the watershed.
The ban on mining was enacted during the Biden administration. In 2023, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland signed Public Land Order 7917, withdrawing 225,504 acres in the Superior National Forest from potential leasing for mining or geothermal energy purposes. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act allowed Haaland to do so for a maximum of 20 years, and only Congress can counteract the action.
On the morning of the Thursday vote, Rep. Stauber posted a Bible quote on his social media accounts, emphasizing a section about mining.
“Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to Him and revering Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land — a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.”
Response From Environmental Groups
Marc Fink, senior attorney of the Public Lands Law Center, said, “The Senate’s decision to strip protections from the Boundary Waters is a devastating blow for everyone who loves this spectacular wilderness,” said Marc Fink, a Duluth-based senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Rep. Stauber will be remembered for opening the Boundary Waters watershed to the toxic mining industry. Congress has brushed aside Forest Service warnings and ignored overwhelming public support for protecting this area from copper mining. We’ll keep fighting Twin Metal’s copper mine proposal, and we won’t stop until the Boundary Waters are permanently protected from toxic mining.”
Louis Geltman, Outdoor Alliance’s VP for Policy and Government Relations, said, “The Boundary Waters is one of America’s most treasured outdoor landscapes, celebrated for its world-class paddling, hiking, and fishing opportunities. This iconic region is vital to the outdoor recreation community and part of the growing outdoor economy. Proposed foreign mining projects are a direct threat to the area’s waters, wildlife, and outdoor experiences and American jobs that depend on them. The outdoor recreation community strongly opposes efforts to rescind protections.”
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