“There is no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump has the Boundary Waters in his sights,” Smith said. ”He has spoken publicly about it, and that’s one of the reasons that I want to introduce this legislation.”
Senator Tina Smith speaks at the Minnesota delegation breakfast on Aug. 20, 2024 in Chicago. (Glen Stubbe)
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently directed his department to create a plan to reinstate all mineral, oil and gas leases on federal land canceled during the Biden administration and to examine how mining bans like the one in Minnesota could be reversed.
Smith’s bill would prohibit sulfide mining on the 225,504 acres in an area where the BWCAW waters flow into Voyageurs National Park. It also would permit the U.S. Forest Service to allow the removal of sand, gravel, granite, iron ore and taconite from land within the protected area.
However, the bill would not ban or restrict any current or future mining projects outside of the withdrawal area within the Rainy River watershed or affect any taconite mines in Minnesota, Smith said.
Though Smith opposes mining in this area, she stressed that she is “not opposed to all copper nickel mining, and certainly not all mining.”
Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and Smith knows her bill likely faces an uphill battle.
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