Wilderness Watch and our members breathed a sigh of relief in January 2022 when the Biden administration canceled two mining leases for the proposed Twin Metals mine. And again in January 2023, when the administration issued a 20-year moratorium on sulfide-ore mining on national forest land surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The reprieve for the Boundary Waters Wilderness would be short-lived if the mining industry and their supporters in Congress have their way!

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) recently introduced House Concurrent Resolution 34 and H.R. 3195 to reverse the 20-year mining ban on federal public land upstream of the fabled Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Rep. Stauber’s troubling legislation comes on the heels of a Congressional field hearing he hosted on May 2, during which the congressman and numerous witnesses repeatedly called for toxic sulfide-ore mining at the doorstep and directly upstream from the Boundary Waters. One of Rep. Stauber’s handpicked witnesses even advocated for mining WITHIN the Boundary Waters Wilderness!

Fortunately, earlier this year, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) re-introduced the Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act (H.R. 668) to permanently withdraw federal public lands and minerals in the 234,328-acre Rainy River watershed in northeastern Minnesota from mineral exploration and development. The Rainy River watershed includes much of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park. The other good news is that Rep. McCollum’s bill currently has 46 co-sponsors.

Over the past eight years, Wilderness Watch’s members and supporters have literally written tens of thousands of letters to defend the Boundary Waters Wilderness from the threats posed by toxic sulfide-ore mining. Thank you!

Now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness needs your help again! Please write your representative and urge them to oppose House Concurrent Resolution 34 and H.R. 3195, and co-sponsor and pass H.R. 668.

Photo: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness by Mike Sweet/USFWS