(Ely, MN)--A provision from Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) in the Interior Appropriations bill would protect the Boundary Waters Wilderness by barring the Department of the Interior from using funds to advance sulfide-ore copper mining in the Rainy River Watershed, the area upstream from the Boundary Waters. The Boundary Waters is currently threatened by proposed sulfide-ore copper mining from Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta's Twin Metals project. The project was terminated by the US Forest Service in 2016 because it posed an inherent risk of unacceptable damage to an irreplaceable Wilderness.
"The watershed of the nation's most visited Wilderness is the wrong place to put the country's most toxic industry," said Becky Rom, National Chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. "Rep. McCollum is a stalwart champion for the Boundary Waters and all of America's precious natural resources and we are so grateful for her continued leadership in standing up for Minnesota's crown jewel."
Section 435 of the Interior Appropriations bill states: "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to review or approve a mine plan proposed within the Rainy River Watershed of the Superior National Forest."
The Biden administration is currently reviewing the history of the leases and the Trump administration's actions surrounding Antofagasta's Twin Metals project, including the unlawful reinstatement of terminated mineral leases and the last minute cancellation of a study to determine the impact of sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters.