House Natural Resources Committee Republicans this week intensified their ongoing investigation into the Biden administration’s decision to scrap mining leases near Minnesota’s pristine Boundary Waters, moving to interrogate green groups opposed to the project.
Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and his colleagues — Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chair Pete Stauber of Minnesota and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Paul Gosar of Arizona — sent letters to three environmental groups — the Wilderness Society, the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice — about meetings some of their members had planned with Interior Department officials in 2021.
The trio of Republicans in a joint statement said they’re seeking details on the groups’ “backroom roles in the cancellation of the Twin Metals leases and the Superior Withdrawal, particularly given tax-exempt environmental groups’ continued pressure to oppose mining in Northern Minnesota and otherwise negatively influence America’s natural resource and energy priorities.”
The Republican lawmakers’ letters home in on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and shared with POLITICO’s E&E News in 2023 that revealed plans for a top Interior staffer to meet environmentalists in 2021 to discuss protections for the Boundary Waters. FGI, a conservative-leaning group that files dozens of FOIA requests and subsequent lawsuits, first obtained the documents.
