It is happening again: Boundary Waters once more under attack

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a nightmarish state of limbo directed by David Lynch? Like you’re living through an infinite loop of cause and effect as a supernatural entity appears to warn you, “It is happening again”? That’s sort of what it feels like for community members and supporters working to protect the much beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota from destructive mining right next door.

For generations, friends of this incredible lakeland wilderness within the Superior National Forest have tirelessly advocated for it to be protected from a proposed toxic sulfide-ore copper mine nearby that would poison the landscape. 

As far back as 1966, reckless mining corporations tried to snatch up tracts of the landscape to mine for copper. The process would not only tear up the landscape, but almost certainly poison the watershed. Sulfide-ore copper mining is known for toxic discharge in the form of heavy metal-polluted water. This “acid mine drainage” has the potential to devastate the entire ecosystem as it moves from the surface water into the groundwater, harming the local Indigenous communities. It could also damage the area’s booming tourism industry, which capitalizes on the Boundary Waters’ status as the country’s most visited wilderness; the local outdoor recreation economy generates $913 million in annual revenue for the region. 

Fortunately, the proposed Twin Metals mine has been thwarted time and time again. Just this year, the Department of the Interior set a 20-year moratorium on mining in the area, the ancestral home of the Ojibwe people, which also flows directly into other communities downstream. Last year, an environmental review by the Forest Service found drainage from the mine would cause “disproportionate adverse risk to Native American and low-income communities.”

But like a pesky weed returning to a garden, the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining is once again rearing its ugly head. In yet another attack on public lands from Congress, House Republicans are preparing a “Superior National Forest Restoration Act” containing extreme, unheard-of measures that would devastate the Boundary Waters. It would reverse the moratorium put in place by Department of the Interior; reinstate canceled leases and permits for the Twin Metals mine; force a review of already rejected plans; and outright bar judicial review of these proceedings.

This development is so much more than an attack on the Boundary Waters — it is an affront to democracy and an assault on the processes designed to protect community voices. The processes under attack exist not only to protect our shared environment, but also to ensure local input in projects. We cannot allow these measures to override our voices and become law!

To learn more about the threat facing the Boundary Waters visit SaveTheBoundaryWaters.org.