Ely, MN--Today Rep. Betty McCollum's bipartisan Boundary Waters protection legislation passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee. The next stop is a full vote on the House floor. In response Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters Executive Director Tom Landwehr issued the following statement:
"Today is a good day for all those who love the Boundary Waters. With passage of this bill out of committee we are one step closer to protecting the clean air, clean water, and job creating power of America's most popular Wilderness. Generations of Minnesotans and Americans have fought time and again to protect this special place so that our children and children's children can experience the life-changing power of this unique paradise. We won't stop until the Boundary Waters is protected forever."
The Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act permanently protects 234,328 acres of federal land and waters within the Superior National Forest from risky sulfide-ore copper mining.
Over fifty Minnesota and national advocacy organizations have signed on supporting the legislation.
Nearly seventy percent of Minnesotans do not want sulfide-ore copper near the Boundary Waters, and in 2017 over 180,000 people urged the federal government to withdraw the watershed of the Boundary Waters from the federal mining program--the same area Rep. McCollum’s legislation addresses. The science is clear on the threat sulfide-ore copper mining poses to the Wilderness.
Rep. McCollum is the chief author, and is joined by Reps. Francis Rooney (R-FL), Fred Upton (R-MI), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) as original co-sponsors.