President Donald Trump signed legislation Monday to erase a Biden-era ban on new mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota.
The Senate earlier this month voted 50-49 to pass H.J. Res 140, from Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. The House cleared the measure in January.
The resolution’s approval in Congress was a major defeat for Democrats, environmental groups and hunting advocates, who argued for months that mining near the pristine Boundary Waters is too risky.
But Stauber and other lawmakers cited the need to increase U.S. production of metals and minerals needed for technology and economic growth. They denied that a project by Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chilean mining company Antofagasta, would harm the Boundary Waters.
