After Trump's win, mining near BWCAW back in play

ELY — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reverse the Biden administration's 20-year mining ban on federal land within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, bolstering the hopes of copper-nickel mining industry supporters but worrying environmentalists who fear pollution to the downstream wilderness area.

The mineral withdrawal, which bans mining on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest until 2043, and non-renewal of key federal mineral leases to Twin Metals' proposed copper-nickel mine effectively killed the company's plan to build an underground mine and tailings-storage facility processing plant along Birch Lake, which flows into the BWCAW via the Kawishiwi River.

At a July 27 rally in St. Cloud, Trump said he'd reverse the withdrawal in "about 10 minutes."

"Tonight, I pledge to Minnesota miners that when I am reelected, I will reverse the Biden-Harris attack on your way of life, and we will turn the Iron Range into a mineral powerhouse like never before," Trump said.

Additionally, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 — suggestions written by former Trump administration officials for the next Republican president — calls for the administration to "abandon" the BWCAW-area mineral withdrawal "if those withdrawals have not been completed."

Responding to Trump's win last week, Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, said Trump, in his first term, "actively dismantled critical protections for the Boundary Waters, advancing efforts to open up the headwaters to this irreplaceable wilderness to copper mining.

"Now, he has openly vowed to overturn protections, gut bedrock environmental protections, and fast-track toxic mining operations within his first days back in office," Lyons said in a news release.

For the last eight years, the status of Twin Metals and the ability to mine on federal land within the Rainy River Watershed, which is shared with the BWCAW, have bounced back and forth depending on who is in the White House.

The mineral withdrawal and rejection of Twin Metals leases were first enacted in the final days of the Obama administration. Those moves were then reversed by the Trump administration but later reinstated by the Biden administration, which also released an accompanying U.S. Forest Service study that said hard-rock mining within the Rainy River Watershed could pose an environmental threat to the BWCAW.

But there's a key difference now compared to eight years ago when Trump took office weeks after the Obama administration's actions: the mineral withdrawal wasn't completed or finalized as it was still within its two-year study period preceding the 20-year moratorium. By the time Trump takes office in January, the moratorium will have been on the books for two years.

Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, said reversing Biden's actions would likely require an administrative process with public notice and public comment opportunities.

"You cannot do it through just an executive order. ... That doesn't mean the Trump administration won't try," Knopf said in an interview with the News Tribune on Monday.

Congress could also pass a bill that reverses the withdrawal and reinstates Twin Metals' leases.

In April, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill by U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, that would have reversed the mineral withdrawal, reissued key federal mineral leases to Twin Metals, limited environment and regulatory review of mine plans of operations within the Superior National Forest to 18 months and blocked judicial review of reissued leases or permits. However, the bill was never taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

It could stand a better chance at passing the next Congress. As of Monday afternoon, Republicans will hold a majority in the U.S. Senate and are closer to a majority in the U.S. House than Democrats, with several races still not called.

Stauber did not respond to the News Tribune's request for comment Monday. However, on Facebook, he highlighted a statement provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune last week: "The first thing our office did this morning was reach out to the Trump transition team to ensure we have a clear path for critical mineral mining."

When asked for comment by the News Tribune, Twin Metals, owned by Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta, did not directly address Trump's win.

"Twin Metals is focused on sustainably developing the mineral resources that support these priorities for our nation, and we are committed to advancing our project in a bipartisan manner to ensure Americans can benefit from the much-needed copper, nickel and cobalt resources that are abundant in northeast Minnesota," Twin Metals spokesperson Kathy Graul said in an emailed statement Monday.

Similarly, Julie Lucas, executive director of MiningMinnesota, said, "There is bipartisan support for responsible development of the resources we have here in the U.S.