Minnesota conservationists sound alarm on mounting threats to Boundary Waters - MinnPost

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Lukas Leaf has been camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for decades, but he fears that pressure on the environmental protections that have long kept the famed Minnesota waterway from nearby mining is close to a tipping point.

"We're near a point of no return," said Leaf, the executive director at Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters.

While threats to the undisturbed condition of the Boundary Waters are nothing new, conservationists say the aggressive focus in Washington, D.C., on opening up nearby copper-sulfide mining projects is at levels they've not seen before.

Leaf described it as a multipronged approach by Republican President Donald Trump's administration and the GOP-controlled Congress to overturn protections on the wilderness area.

On May 2, Trump's National Energy Dominance Council placed the NorthMet Project, a proposed copper-nickel mining operation near Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt on the Iron Range, on a priority list for federal permitting.

Within a week, proposed projects near the Boundary Waters received a legislative boost when the House Natural Resources Committee, working on a major budget bill, approved the removal of a moratorium on mining in Superior National Forest, as well as the reestablishment of mineral leases sought by mining company Twin Metals near Ely.

U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, the Republican from Duluth whose sweeping district includes the Iron Range and the Boundary Waters and who sits on the panel, had long pushed for both measures and declared that their approval "responsibly unleashes American resources."

Conservationists have long opposed sulfide-ore mining near the Boundary Waters due to the pollution risks it would pose to surrounding watersheds.

The risks seem like they're compounding, said Libby London, communications director at Save the Boundary Waters. "It puts a dark cloud over the Boundary Waters Wilderness edge communities," she said.

Save the Boundary Waters and Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters were among nine conservation groups that organized a rally last week in the state Capitol rotunda. Typically an annual event focused broadly on protecting public lands, this year's rally took on a sense of urgency, emphasizing the Boundary Waters in direct response to what organizers described as the Trump administration's laser focus on paving the way for copper-nickel mining.

"We're at that critical point where the threats are very present, and raising as much awareness to those issues is important," Leaf said.

Leaf and Chance Adams, board chair of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers' Minnesota chapter, come to the Boundary Waters conservation movement from sporting backgrounds. Talking about all of the hunting and fishing to be had in such pristine public places is a good conversation piece when introducing people to the topic, Leaf said. Born and raised in Minnesota, Leaf's first Boundary Waters trip came at age 12. This year will be his 30th season going back.

Adams, who grew up and lives near Bemidji, spent more than 30 days in the Boundary Waters last year. At 42 years of age, he's been camping in the Boundary Waters since he was 21, developing a deep appreciation for nature and public lands in the process.

A desire to protect what he described as a "remarkable place" compelled him to get involved with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He recently became board chair.

Adams and other organizers of the rally drew a distinction between Minnesota's mining legacy, such as taconite mining, and the new copper-sulfide mining projects proposed near the Boundary Waters.

The latter is known to have severe impacts on water quality, according to a report from the environmental group Earthworks.

Putting trust in international conglomerates to keep their word on ensuring safety doesn't sit well with Adams.

"For me it's a really negative thing to say, "Alright, we're going to trust a foreign mining company to do this with the best interests of the public in mind,"" Adams said. "That's the real scary part of it. It hasn't had a proven track record."

Proponents of the projects see Minnesota as a potential leader in clean, safe copper-nickel mining. A statement from MiningMinnesota welcomed the legislative step restoring cancelled mineral rights in northeast Minnesota.

"Minnesota mining (faces) one of the most rigorous environmental review processes in the world, with oversight from both federal and state agencies and multiple opportunities for public input," the statement reads. "Mining companies in our region are committed to that process, and they must prove they can meet all environmental standards before they can earn permits to build a mine."

Another industry group, Jobs for Minnesotans, stated the Congressional committee's action takes politics out of the process.

"This legislation doesn't guarantee mining projects start today, but it ensures that businesses that can prove they will meet and exceed environmental standards have a fair shot in the future," the group said in the statement. "It's a positive step toward strengthening infrastructure, creating jobs, and responsibly using the minerals our state holds."

Friends of the Boundary Waters is studying parliamentary ways to keep Stauber's mining-related provisions out of the reconciliation bill coming before the Senate, said Pete Marshall, the nonprofit's communications director. The organization is in touch with Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., who spoke at last week's rally.

Marshall brought up the Senate's Byrd Rule as a potentially useful tool. Senators can use it to block provisions deemed extraneous to the budget reconciliation process.

Although the mining-related provisions appear extraneous, politics are politics, Marshall said. "Just because something isn't true doesn't mean it's not going to happen," he said.

Along with lifting mining moratoriums and reinstating leases, the House committee's bill also calls for allowing companies to expedite the permitting timeline by paying a fee, exempting them from certain judicial reviews and restricting lawsuit challenges. Legal challenges have been a guardrail against copper-nickel mining in the past, with successful lawsuits brought by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa being an example.

Placing permanent federal protections on the Boundary Waters could come in the form of legislation someday, but bills of that nature introduced this year by Smith and U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, aren't going anywhere in a Congress under GOP control.

Even if copper-nickel mining projects near the Boundary Waters clear all federal roadblocks, they'd face more at the state level.

Whereas DFL leadership up until now has mostly punted responsibility for protecting the Boundary Waters to the courts, Marshall said, he could see the recent federal actions forcing them into proactivity.

He wants legislators to ban nonferrous mining in the Boundary Waters watershed. State Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, and state Rep. Alex Falconer, DFL-Eden Prairie, introduced companion bills to that effect in February. The bills didn't receive hearings.

A "prove it first" law requiring companies to show copper-sulfide mining has been done before without causing destruction would be another welcome move, Marshall said.

"It's not like there are not options out there," he said. "It's that we need statewide politicians to start taking action and taking notice."

Making them take notice of mounting threats to the Boundary Waters was a goal of last week's rally. London thinks public opinion in Minnesota falls on the conservation side of the equation, but constituents need to let their lawmakers know.

Polling by Change Research in 2022, commissioned by the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, found 69% of participating midterm voters in Minnesota supported permanent protections against sulfide-ore copper mining for the Boundary Waters.

More recently, the three counties likely to be most impacted by copper-sulfide mining in northeastern Minnesota -- St. Louis, Lake and Cook -- voted against Stauber in 2024, London said. This came despite Stauber winning reelection with 58% of the overall vote in his district.

These data points, to go with last week's rally, give London hope for the wilderness area's future. In a scary time for public lands, Minnesota's crown jewel is bringing conservationists together over a common goal, she said.

"The Boundary Waters are truly this unifying place," she said.

This story is provided as a service of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ On the Ground news wire. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a network of more than 475 independent, nonprofit newsrooms serving communities throughout the US, Canada, and globally. On the Ground is a service of INN, which aggregates the best of its members’ elections and political content, and provides it free for republication. Read more about INN here: https://inn.org/.

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