Critical vote on Minnesota’s BWCA watershed mining resolution likely later today

Ely, Minn. — A Congressional resolution affecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota that passed the U.S. House in January could see a critical vote in the Senate today. 

An up-or-down vote on House Joint Resolution 140 will either repeal a 20-year moratorium on copper-sulfide mining in the Rainy River watershed around the BWCA, or allow that Biden-era decision to stand.

The House resolution was authored by U.S. Rep, Pete Stauber, R-Minn.-8th, and uses the Congressional Review Act to overturn the 20-year mining ban protecting the Boundary Waters watershed from toxic copper-sulfide mining. Opponents to Stauber’s resolution say the bill would not only eliminate current protections but also prevent future administrations from using the same safeguards on the BWCA.

Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters Ingrid Lyons said in an Instagram call-to-action post Tuesday evening that the Senate would likely vote today on the resolution removing copper mining protections near the BWCA. 

“The latest intel on Capitol Hill: time is being held on the Senate floor tomorrow for a vote on HJ Res 140. We are on the ground in DC…. we need a surge of calls to your senators – right now.”

The U.S. House voted 214-208 in favor of the resolution back on Jan. 20. The Senate has 60 working days to vote on the measure before it expires, which would be sometime next week.

In late January, Matthew Schultz with Minnesota-based Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters wrote in opposition to HJR140:

“214 U.S. representatives are on record supporting a bill that uses the Congressional Review Act for the first time since its inception, to undo a public land order with the explicit purpose of supporting a foreign-owned mining conglomerate who wants to extract, quite possibly, the most important minerals in the world from Minnesota. Then ship them to China, thereby risking polluting the most visited wilderness area in the country, against overwhelming opposition from Minnesotans and sporting groups around the country.

“That’s all for the promise of inherently temporary jobs, a temporary influx of economic stimulation, and the opportunity to buy back our own minerals on the global market.”

Conservation advocates were urging sportsmen and women to call their senators this morning to oppose passage of HJR140 in the Senate today. They noted that senators Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania are important votes.

To contact your senator, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Or follow these links from Save the Boundary Waters or Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters.