A fundamental question with respect to the future of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness looms before Minnesota's citizens and elected officials: Will officials in Washington follow the law?
Under the most basic principles of democracy and constitutional governance the answer can only be "yes." Whether that will be the answer with respect to the Boundary Waters — the most visited and accessible wilderness area in the United States — remains to be seen.
Gov. Tim Walz must be prepared to act if federal officials continue down their current unlawful path to enabling sulfide-ore copper mining on the edge of the Boundary Waters.
Federal law should ultimately determine the fate of the Boundary Waters, because this magnificent lake-land wilderness and its watershed in the Superior National Forest are federal lands that belong to all Americans. The copper-bearing sulfide ore that Chilean mining company Antofagasta/Twin Metals seeks is also publicly owned. The pollution that would flow from the proposed mine and from its waste tailings would contaminate waters that flow into the heart of the Boundary Waters.
When the U.S. Forest Service, which administers the Boundary Waters and much of its watershed, requested in 2016 that the watershed be withdrawn from the federal mineral leasing program, it triggered a vitally important environmental review. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) unequivocally authorizes protection of public lands that are determined to be too valuable or vulnerable for mining.
Under FLPMA, such a determination is to be based on an extensive and comprehensive review of the environmental, economic and social impacts of allowing mining in areas as fragile as the Boundary Waters watershed and, conversely, of the impacts of a mining ban. The point is to engender decisions based on facts and science — not politics.
Such a review was commenced in early 2017 by the Forest Service but halted by the Trump administration after 20 months. This cynical cessation of the review relegated to the trash bin not only exhaustive studies of environmental, economic and social impacts but also extensive public comments that overwhelmingly supported protecting the Boundary Waters watershed. Concurrently with halting environmental review, the administration unlawfully reinstated mining leases to Antofagasta/Twin Metals that had been terminated in 2016 because of the threat to the Boundary Waters.
Supporters of copper mining clamor that "the process" should be followed with respect to proposals for such mining near the Boundary Waters, but then applaud the Trump administration's actions that short-circuit established federal law. Those arguing for "process" mean that they want to ignore FLPMA and have only the Minnesota permitting process, which is a comparatively narrow review and designed to result in the issuance of permits for mines, govern the mining proposals.