An aerial view from Birch River, a few kilometres downstream from the Twin Metals proposed copper-nickel mine, and about 20 km upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
The U.S. Congress has passed a measure to allow copper-nickel mining in northeastern Minnesota on federal lands adjacent to a popular wilderness area whose waters flow into Canada.
The vote passed by a narrow 50-49 margin in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. It overturns a pair of decisions made by the Joe Biden administration, which in 2022 cancelled mineral leases on federal lands around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and, the following year, imposed a 20-year-moratorium on mining and exploration, citing environmental risks.
The House of Representatives passed the measure earlier this year.
murat yükselir / the globe and mail, source: USGS; Ontario GeoHub; Minnesota Geospatial Commons; Twin Metals Minnesota; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
The Duluth complex, which underlies the area west of Lake Superior, contains a third of the copper found in the U.S., 88 per cent of the cobalt and 95 per cent of the nickel, along with platinum and palladium. It is the largest undeveloped mineral deposit of its kind, with projects under development by several companies.
The deposits lie next to the Boundary Waters, a quiet roadless wilderness whose bogs, lakes and rivers flow across the Canadian border, toward Lake of the Woods, ultimately draining to Hudson Bay.
In Minnesota’s wilderness, a town divided over the future of mining
Environmental groups have raised concern that mining would release sulphates into local waters, produce methylmercury, a neurotoxin that can travel up food chains.
“It certainly is causing a lot of concerns on this side of the border – and certainly the concerns would seem to me to be valid,” Marcus Powlowski, the Liberal member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River, said.
“We’re not going to expose people to mercury poisoning in Canada willfully – or, we can’t turn a blind eye to that,” Mr. Powlowski said.
Across the U.S., canoeists, anglers and environmental advocates have warned that mining could permanently damage a place so pristine that locals draw drinking water directly from lakes.
Under President Donald Trump, however, Republicans have sought to expand the extraction of natural resources from federal lands, pushing for more U.S. production of lumber, hydrocarbons and minerals. Mr. Trump himself promoted mining in the area at a 2020 campaign stop in Duluth; his administration has said it is time to “mine, baby, mine,” and companies say they can mine without harming local waters.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., speaks about the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on April 15.Uncredited/The Associated Press
Republicans in Congress used an unusual legislative manoeuvre to cancel the moratorium, prompting a warning from Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat, that the vote set “a dangerous precedent that would affect every state in our country,” giving Congress a power to summarily override other decisions.
“Examples of orders that could be overturned years after the fact would include fossil fuel and mining leases, permits and permitting denials, any rule or determination of any administrative law matter,” she said.
The Congressional decision will not bring mines to life quickly. State regulators in Minnesota would likely take years – perhaps decades – to scrutinize any new project. Even corporate proponents acknowledge that securing regulatory approval is a lengthy process.
The Canadian government said it has kept watch on developments in the region, advocating “that mining activity be properly assessed and managed,” John Babcock, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, said in a statement. (Mines have also been proposed nearby on the Ontario side of the border.)
“The joint stewardship of the environment is a cornerstone of Canada-U.S. relations, from air and water quality to wildlife management,” Mr. Babcock said. He gave as an example the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, which ”has guided our two nations in our joint stewardship of trans-boundary water resources.”
That treaty stipulates that “waters flowing across the boundary shall not be polluted on either side to the injury of health or property on the other.”
James Devine, Twin Metals community & project operations manager, drives the specialized loader at the Twin Metals core library.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
The International Joint Commission, or IJC, is the body created by the treaty to oversee such matters. It continues to function under Mr. Trump, whose administration has withdrawn from other international organizations.
But the treaty does not define what constitutes injury of health or property and the IJC has no ability to enforce clean water demands.
It is governments on both sides of the border that have “all the jurisdiction when it comes to regulating water quality,” Merrell-Ann Phare, one of three Canadian commissioners on the IJC, said this week.
“We’re not police,” Ms. Phare added.
Still, miners in Minnesota say they intend to use the best available technology to ensure their work does not sully the waters – including underground operations that limit the surface footprint and dried tailings not kept in large ponds like other mines.
“There is no tailings dam. There is no potential for tailings dam failure,” said Kathy Graul, a spokeswoman for Twin Metals Minnesota, which has already spent US$650-million on its project in the area. The law requires “there cannot be a drop of measurable pollution that enters the Boundary Waters,” she said. ”We are very confident that we’ve designed a project that can meet that standard.”
A view towards Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Hegman Lake.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail