Senate Vote Overturns BWCA Mining Ban

After months of debate, the United States Senate voted 50-49 to pass House Joint Resolution 140. The resolution, championed by the U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn, passed the House on January 20th in a 214-208 vote. The Resolution overturns a 20-year moratorium on copper sulfide mining on 225,00 acres near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, of the Biden Administration, announced the moratorium in January 2023. 

Voting followed partisan lines. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins, Maine and Thom Tils of North Carolina joined Democrats opposing the legislation. 

President Trump is expected to sign the legislation. The repeal allows the Trump administration to grant federal mineral leases to Twin Metals, owned by a Chile-based mining conglomerate.

Opponents of the repeal note that extensive federal and state permitting processes could take years to resolve. 

Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, issued the following statement:

“Today is a dark day for America’s most beloved Wilderness area, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and a stark warning call for public lands nationwide. Minnesotans and the American public writ large have been loud and clear – this iconic place needs to be protected. Today, by the very people who claim to represent them, they were ignored, and even worse, silenced. But of course, it’s not over, and we will always keep fighting.”