Senate Votes Against Protecting Boundary Waters

The vote followed several hours of debate on the Senate floor, which stretched from late into the evening on April 15th into the morning of the 16th. Both of Minnesota’s Senators, Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, spoke urgently and at length about the need to protect the Boundary Waters.

“This is an incredibly special place, beloved by Minnesotans and people all around the country, and this mine poses an unacceptable threat to it,” Senator Smith said. “[The Boundary Waters have] some of the cleanest water you’ll find anywhere in this country. You can drink it right out of the middle of the lakes. You’ll find lake trout, northern pike, and walleye—there is no better place in the world for that.”

Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico also spoke out against the action, which was soundly opposed by dozens of hunting and fishing conservation groups. “Public lands are the closest, most tangible thing we have to being able to represent true Jeffersonian democracy,” he said. “They are the thing that often unites us across the political spectrum. If you take these public lands away, you tear away the places where we are most free. This is an issue of heritage, and of our inheritance.”

On the other hand, Republican Representative Pete Stauber, who represents Northeast Minnesota, spearheaded the effort to repeal the mining moratorium, arguing that it cost “countless good-paying union jobs, and it also put our nation’s mineral security at risk.” He said that it is possible to hold the proposed mine to a high environmental standard, despite the dismal environmental track record for the style of mining.

Opponents of Stauber’s effort also argued that the Antofagasta mine would not improve mineral security, given the foreign ties of the mining corporation, as well as the fact that the ore would almost certainly need to be exported to Asia to be processed and then purchased from Antofagasta. Still, political pressure from the Trump Administration helped Stauber’s effort succeed.

“The short-sightedness of this incredibly disappointing decision is staggering. By overturning the mining moratorium in the Rainy River Watershed, our elected officials have put the interests of a few above the benefit of many. including the future generations we are fighting for,” said Lukas Leaf, executive director of Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. “Paving the way for the Twin Metals mine does little, if anything, to satisfy the America First agenda, and is a direct assault on our outdoor heritage and public lands nationwide.”

The original mineral withdrawal was instituted by the Department of the Interior in 2023. The use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) for a mineral withdrawal is unprecedented. Historically, the act has been used in a far more limited scope to review recent rules instituted by federal agencies, not overturn moratoriums several years old.

"This unprecedented use of the CRA to strike down public land management actions could have broad and long-lasting ripple effects far beyond the Boundary Waters,” MeatEater’s Director of Conservation Mark Kenyon said. “If carefully considered, years-long planning processes to manage our public lands can be disregarded with a simple majority vote, Americans of all political persuasions will pay the price for generations to come. Our public lands should not be left adrift and at the mercy of the political winds of the moment."

The CRA also prohibits a management agency from again issuing a new rule “that is substantially the same” as the old one, meaning that reinstating the Rainy River Watershed mining moratorium is now off the table. It also opens up the door for future uses of the CRA to claw back mineral withdrawals and land management plans several years after they were instituted by federal politicians, without any public process.

“We're disappointed by today's vote, especially considering the dramatic outpouring of public input from the hunting, fishing, and outdoor community in defense of the Boundary Waters region,” Mark said. “The will of the people was obviously heard, but apparently not heeded. Nonetheless, we look forward to continuing to raise the voices of the hunting and angling community as this process moves on."

That the vote came down to such a narrow margin is a testament to the effort of sportsmen and women across the country. “The support over the past few months from this community has been incredible and almost overwhelming,” Leaf said. “We’re super thankful for the amount of support that’s been coming in and how quickly people have been willing to go to bat for this issue.”

He added that the fight to conserve the Boundary Waters is far from over. While the Twin Metals leases will almost certainly be reinstated, the process to actually develop the mine remains arduous and requires agency reviews and approvals of mining plans and permits.

“This is far from shovels in the ground,” Leaf said. “Folks need to understand that this isn’t the end-all and be-all of this situation. It is a huge step forward for the supporters of this project, but there’s still a ways to go for getting it off the ground.”