Zinke leads push to allow mining near Boundary Waters Wilderness
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) The House of Representatives, spurred by Rep. Ryan Zinke, voted to override a 3-year-old Interior Department order that temporarily banned copper sulfide mining in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution using the 1996 Congressional Review Act to override a public lands order issued by former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to ban mining for 20 years in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe area. It was basically a party-line vote of 214-208, with one Democrat and one Republican voting against their parties. Montana’s Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing voted in favor of the override.
House Joint Resolution 140 has flown through the House of Representatives. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., Stauber introduced it less than two weeks ago, and it already had a committee hearing and vote on Tuesday and the floor vote Wednesday. Zinke was a key player in Wednesday’s passage of the resolution. He not only testified during the floor debate but he also played the role of party whip for the resolution, meaning he lobbied his fellow Republicans to vote for the resolution, according to Bloomberg Government.
On the House floor, Zinke joined three other Republicans in arguing that the resolution didn’t open up any mines; it just eliminated the mining ban. Then they proceeded to list how many jobs would be created and how much copper, cobalt and nickel could be mined from the Duluth Complex. Rep. Bruce Westerman said those critical minerals were needed to counter China’s domination of mining and processing rare-earth elements.
Zinke said that when he was Interior Secretary in 2017, he reviewed the mine proposal from Twin Metals, the mining subsidiary, and the scientific analysis.
“I think probably I stand on the conservation side as much as any member. But I’ve actually read the mining plans. I have a degree in geology and look closely at it and you know what? There are good projects and there’s bad projects and we don’t mine like we used to,” Zinke said. “When a mine is not located in the wilderness, is not located in the buffer, it’s located in a Forest Service holding, which by nature, by law, is multiple use. And mining is an appropriate use.”
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said no one else could read the analysis of the proposed mine in 2017 because it was never made public.
“When (Zinke) was secretary, we asked to see that analysis and what we got back was page after page of redaction. We got zero information,” Huffman said.
Some sportsmen’s groups questioned Zinke’s enthusiastic support for the resolution considering his position as the co-chair of the House Public Lands Caucus.
“He’s advocating for this mine, not just staying neutral. He’s advocating, saying this is a great idea. How can you be a chair of a caucus and say ‘I’m against the sale of public lands’ and then be willing to defile them on an issue like this?” said Land Tawney, American Hunters and Anglers co-chair. “There’s a $77 million outdoor economy based on the Boundary Waters - that is sustainable. Why would we jeopardize that, especially for a foreign-owned mine and minerals that are going to go over to China. When I hear them say ‘energy dominance,’ that’s not energy independence. That just means a short quick buck, and we know very well in Montana that boom-and-bust cycle. There couldn’t be a worse place for a mine because it’s all water. Why are we doing this in a place that’s so sensitive?”
A 2020 Harvard University economic analysis of a potential 20 years of mining in the Rainy River watershed concluded that “the proposed mining would lead to a boom-bust cycle that is typical of resource extraction economies, exacerbated by the likely negative effect on the recreation industry."
The history of the proposed copper sulfide mine goes back a few decades. Most recently, Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Antofagasta, a Chilean mining company with close ties to China, has proposed a copper sulfide mine on the Superior National Forest in the Rainy River watershed, one of the headwaters of the hundreds of connected lakes that form the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Huffman said copper sulfide mines have always eventually contaminated surrounding lakes and rivers with acid mine drainage that has to be cleaned in perpetuity.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said the Obama administration in 2016 applied for a withdrawal of mineral resources for excavation in three locations: the Rainy River watershed, the Methow Valley in Washington state and the Paradise Valley in Montana, where a proposed gold mine could have potentially polluted the Yellowstone River outside Yellowstone National Park. The withdrawals were approved for the Methow and Paradise valleys, but the incoming Trump administration didn’t complete the Rainy River study in 2017. When the Biden administration took over in 2021, the study was finally finished and Haaland issued the public land order in 2022 to ban mining in the Rainy River basin for 20 years.
“The withdrawal was noticed, and Republicans had 90 days to adopt a notice of disapproval but they couldn’t bring it to the floor. Now they’re using the CRA to get a do-over. CRA’s are supposed to be used for rules within 60 days of Congressional notice, not 3 years later,” McCollum said.
Huffman said the Congressional Review Act was passed to override rules, but Haaland issued a public land order, not a rule.
“The Trump administration and Republicans have been using the CRA to overturn public lands protections that have never been considered rules,” Huffman said. “If this CRA succeeds, it won’t just open the Boundary Waters to pollution, but it would set a terrible and dangerous precedent for Congress to roll back protections for any of our treasured public lands with little oversight or notice just because Republicans have decided they’d rather pillage them for profit.”
On Tuesday, before the House Rules Committee passed Stauber’s resolution on a party-line vote of 8-3, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-Minn., asked Stauber what Twin Metals would do with the ore it mined. Stauber said it would be sent overseas because the U.S. has no copper, nickel or cobalt processing facilities. Fernandez said the ore would be sent to China.
“So we’re going to potentially do great environmental damage. If they do one little mistake, it’s going to harm this precious resource of water. And this is a resource that belongs to the American people,” Fernandez said during Tuesday’s hearing. “And where it’s going to end up is on a boat in China.”
The resolution now goes to the Senate, although the Senate parliamentarian has yet to rule on whether the public land order can be overturned with a simple majority. But sportsmen’s groups are already asking their members to lobby their senators to reject the resolution.
“The passage of this bill in the House is a disappointing sign that our elected officials sided with a Chilean mining conglomerate instead of America’s outdoor community and are willing to risk our most cherished public lands for even the smallest chance of turning a profit,” said Matthew Schultz, Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters program manager. “We hope the Senate sees through this misguided attempt at invalidating millions of hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationists, and businesses who support protecting not only the Boundary Waters but also our cherished wild landscapes across the country.”
“Minnesota has a proud mining heritage, and mining remains an important part of our state’s history and economy, but this proposal that would generate toxic waste near an irreplaceable wilderness is the wrong mine in the wrong place. The Boundary Waters is simply too valuable to gamble with,” said Brad Gausman, Minnesota Wildlife Federation executive director.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.