For Immediate Release
August 23, 2021
*ICYMI* Star Tribune Editorial: Protect the BWCA and complete study
Yesterday the Star Tribune published an editorial calling on the Biden administration to take federal action to protect Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness from the threat posed by sulfide-ore copper mining in its watershed, most significantly by Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta's Twin Metals project. The editorial calls for the completion of a mineral withdrawal study cancelled at the last minute by the Trump administration, and noted as well the dubious legal maneuvering of Trump's Interior Department in reinstating previously terminated mineral leases. The Trump Interior Department changed the legal interpretation of five previous presidential administrations (both Republican and Democrat) in order to side-step the US Forest Service's 2016 finding that a Twin Metals mine posed an unacceptable level of inherent risk to the Wilderness, and that any damage could not be fixed or mitigated. The editorial also warns the Biden administration not to wait too long in taking action.
The editorial reads, in part:
Biden appointees Tom Vilsack and Deb Haaland, the respective secretaries heading these two sprawling agencies, must not lose focus of another vital obligation: protecting northeastern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) from potential copper mining pollution.
Their agencies share responsibility for the health of this fragile, federally protected wilderness. Roughly half a year after Vilsack's and Haaland's confirmations, they have yet to publicly announce a sensible step to ensure that science, not a Chilean mining conglomerate's political influence, drives decisions about the fate of the beloved BWCA.
That logical action: completing a halted two-year study of copper mining's risks to the BWCA watershed. The study was begun during the Obama administration and could have led to a 20-year mining moratorium on federal lands near the BWCA, as well as paved the way for Congress to enact permanent protections.
Twin Metals Minnesota aims to open a 20,000-ton-per-day underground mine on a site that isn't in the BWCA but would be perched on the shore of a nearby lake whose waters flow into the wilderness, providing a pathway for any pollutants. Chilean-based Antofagasta, controlled by the wealthy Luksic family, owns Twin Metals.
Under the Trump administration, the environmental study was halted just a few months before completion. The data gathered was kept secret despite demands by members of Congress and the Star Tribune Editorial Board to make it public.
The Trump administration's Department of Interior, which was led by a former lobbyist dogged by ethics concerns, also engaged in dubious legal maneuvering to reinstate mineral leases sought by Twin Metals that the Obama administration had rejected.
Additionally, news that Ivanka Trump had rented a mansion owned by a Luksic family member raised questions about the presidential family's coziness with the Chilean firm. In a 2019 special report, the Editorial Board argued that neither the actions nor the actors involved in the Trump administration's Twin Metals decisionmaking were trustworthy...
....Former President Barack Obama's administration waited until the very end of his second term to take action to protect the BWCA, whose pristine waters are even more valuable amid drought and climate change.
President Joe Biden should signal his strong intention to preserve it by acting at the beginning of his time in office.