FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Libby London (612) 227-8407
February 7, 2024
WATCH RECORDING OF THE EVENT HERE
Minnesota State Senator Kelly Morrison and State Representative Sandra Feist on their new Boundary Waters protection bill at a press conference today
The new bill bans four high-risk activities of sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters and addresses concerns raised by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
(ELY, MN) – Today, the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters hosted a press event at the Minnesota Capitol with Senator Kelly Morrison and Representative Sandra Feist, chief authors of the new Boundary Waters protection bill, which awaits its bill numbers in both chambers. They were joined by Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.
“Our own DNR, perhaps recognizing that our laws are inadequate, recommended that the legislature assess state policy relative to the four mining practices that are involved with sulfide-ore copper mining in their compatibility with the protection of the Boundary Waters,” said Senator Kelly Morrison
“The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is the beating heart of our state – a source of clean water, a haven for wildlife, and a legacy that we have a duty to protect for future generations. This common-sense legislation would place into statute critical restrictions around sulfide-ore copper mining practices that we know would pollute this ecological and recreational gem,” said Representative Sandra Feist. “I really love this bill – it’s rooted in science, it’s proactive, and it prioritizes long-term preservation of our state’s greatest asset over short-term profit.”
The bill addresses four high-risk practices of sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters as identified by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). In 2023, the DNR recommended that the Minnesota State Legislature assess State policy relative to the following four mining practices involved in sulfide-ore copper mining: Waste Tailings, Reactive Waste Rock, Heap Leaching, and Smelting. Strong scientific evidence documents the likelihood and severity of harm to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness if these high-risk activities or facilities were developed in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed.
“This legislation, to be introduced by Senator Kelly Morrison and Representative Sandra Feist, safeguards the watershed by prohibiting four of the most dangerous features associated with copper mining and addresses concerns raised by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 2023 in its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and order as part of ongoing litigation,” said Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, which leads the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.
The Boundary Waters has extraordinary clean water and a low capacity to buffer acid and other pollutants. The Clean Water Act and Federal and State regulations prohibit any water quality degradation in the Boundary Waters, a standard that would be impossible to maintain if these four practices were developed upstream. Because of its official designation as a Wilderness Area, damage to water quality could not be remediated and would be permanent. Right now, the Minnesota Legislature has an opportunity to address the DNR’s request and enact legislation that would prohibit these four dangerous mining practices in the Rainy Rivers Headwaters Watershed.
About the four practices:
Waste Tailings:
Waste tailings are stored either wet behind a dam holding a massive pond of toxic tailings slurry or dry as a massive stack of finely ground particulate material. Both techniques risk gradual or catastrophic failure with a devastating impact to a pristine wilderness area. The “dry stack” tailings increase the potential for generating acidic conditions. Dry tailings also spread pollutants by wind-borne dust that would be deposited on nearby lands and waters. The Minnesota DNR says dry-stacking tailings is too risky for Minnesota’s wet climate, as tailings stored in a wet climate would erode more quickly and require a perimeter dam, reintroducing issues with maintenance of a dam for long-term storage of tailings, “including the possibility of failure.”
Reactive Waste Rock:
Sulfide-ore copper mining produces a large amount of waste rock, which includes toxic, reactive materials. It also causes acid mine drainage, and the leaching of heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury, sulfates and sulfide, and more. Heavy metals and other materials in reactive waste rock can kill plants such as wild rice, and contaminate the water to unsafe levels for fish, loons, and other wildlife.
Heap Leaching:
Heap leaching involves spraying a cyanide solution over a large volume of crushed ore to separate metals from the ore. This solution trickles through the ore heap, is collected, and then once the metals are removed, the solution is repeatedly sprayed again. Cyanide is highly toxic and poses a severe threat to public health and the environment. Cyanide spills and leaks can be detrimental to fish and wildlife populations and contaminates drinking water which poses a significant human health risk.
Smelting:
To extract metal, ore is placed in a type of furnace called a smelter. The ore is subjected to very high temperatures in order to melt the metal and release it from other materials in the ore. Smelting releases harmful toxins, including known carcinogens into the air and environment. Releasing these toxins into the air and surrounding environment is highly harmful to human health, fish, wildlife, plants, and a forested landscape.
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