Senate Vote Sets up a Clash Over Boundary Waters Environmental Safeguards

The US Senate is poised to vote on a resolution intended to eventually open a long-disputed copper mine close to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeast Minnesota, triggering protests from environmentalists who fear the action will diminish the government’s ability to protect America’s cleanest waters, most exquisite forests, and wildest natural landscapes.

The upcoming Senate vote will consider a resolution to end a 20-year mining ban in the Superior National Forest issued by the Biden administration in 2023.  But if approved and signed by President Trump, the measure would not only undo protections for roughly 225,000 acres of  the forest, but could significantly advance the president’s goal of accelerating development of coal, oil, timber, and minerals on public lands across the US.

The White House wants to achieve that result by deploying the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to eliminate specific federal environmental safeguards, including the prohibition on mining near the Boundary Waters Wilderness. The CRA gives Congress the authority to hastily review and approve resolutions to nullify federal agency rules. In the 20 years between the law’s passage and Trump’s election victory in 2016, Congress had never passed a resolution to impede environmental safeguards.