Republicans are planning to launch a fresh effort Friday to overturn the Biden administration’s ban on new mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness, where companies have long sought to extract copper and nickel.
Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, plans to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution Friday that would nix the Biden-era withdrawal and bar future administrations from implementing a similar policy, he told POLITICO in an interview.
Former President Joe Biden’s “ban was unlawful, and so the Congressional Review Act authorizes Congress to make the decision,” Stauber said. “It’s important for our strategic national security — not only mining here domestically but also processing, too.”
Stauber said he expects the full House to take up the measure later this month. If the legislation were to pass both chambers and be signed into law, the Trump administration would be able to reissue leases to Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Chilean mining firm Antofagasta that has been embroiled in a long-running battle to develop a mine in the area.
