House votes for mining near Boundary Waters with unprecedented resolution
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota
Ernesto Ruiz
Scheme overturns 2023 public land order, further expands radical use of CRA
WASHINGTON D.C. (Jan. 21, 2026) — The House passed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to pave the way for mining in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, enabled by the administration’s coordinated submission of a Biden-era mining ban to Congress—a set of unprecedented steps.
In response to the news, Jordan Schreiber, director of government relations at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement:
“Americans revere the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the freedom it provides us to paddle and explore. Congress just tossed aside years of scientific study and local input about how to conserve the headwaters of this wilderness for future generations, allowing the threat of toxic mining to return. The Senate must reject this attack and the precedent it sets to arbitrarily strike down well established public lands protections.”
Contact: newsmedia@tws.org / mgreenberg@tws.org
