the Media Room

Last week, Representative Pete Stauber (R-8th district) attached five amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. These aim to overturn the 20-year mining ban near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which designated the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness one of the nation’s first remote areas to be protected in its mostly natural state.

The choice is between our pristine waters and a foreign mining conglomerate.

UPDATE: The Forest Service sent a press release May 6 on this topic. Included in the press release is the following statement: “Our goal initially is to highlight the importance of all of us doing our due diligence to keep wildlife from becoming habituated. Except for gross violations or repeated violations, we intend to issue warnings for the first year of the order.”

The reckless bill to rescind copper mining protections in the watershed that passed the U.S. House panders to foreign mine owners. Its fate now rests with voters.

The U.S. House, this week, gave a narrow vote of approval for legislation that would rescind the mineral withdrawal affecting a portion of the Superior National Forest and require the reissuance of mineral leases for a proposed copper-nickel mine near Ely.

The Biden administration recently announced a goal to protect 30 percent of lands and waters throughout the United States by 2030. This includes continued protection from mining impacts near wilderness areas such as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).

From the column: "Foreign-owned mining company executives and misguided politicians will stop at nothing, it seems."

MPCA: High levels of problematic pollutant found in Birch Lake upstream from BWCAW.

Several lakes and rivers upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are contaminated with sulfate, which causes more mercury in fish and kills manoomin (wild rice), according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and several citizen-led sampling efforts. In the past two years, the agency has considered new data that shows how waters downstream of past and present iron mines exceed standards for sulfate levels designed to protect the environment.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has added Birch Lake to its draft list of the state’s impaired wild rice waters due to sulfate contamination from nearby mining operations. That list, which is updated every two years, was released in draft form on Tuesday. Pending public comments and approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the final list is expected to be approved next April.