BWCA advocates want mining ban after Dem sweep, but some DFLers walk fine line on the issue

About 36 hours hours after Minnesotans learned the outcome of last Tuesday’s elections, the Save the Boundary Waters campaign held a webinar with the organization's members and supporters to gear up to push for a state ban on copper mining within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

"We're in a very strong position heading into next year's legislative session with a pro-Boundary Waters majority,” said Amanda Hefner, state legislative director for the group. "We have a real opportunity to make permanent protection of the Boundary Waters a reality."

A bill that would ban the state from issuing permits to copper mines in an area spanning about 250 square miles south of the BWCA was introduced in the Minnesota Legislature last year. But it never got a hearing at the closely divided state Capitol.

That’s expected to change next session, with Democrats set to hold a 20-seat majority in the House and a nine-seat advantage in the state Senate.

Supporters of the bill say state action is critical after Congress reversed a federal ban on mining in the area earlier this year.

"I think that was a wake-up call to a lot of people in Minnesota and around the country, and a wake-up call to leadership in the DFL,” said Pete Marshall, communications director for Friends of the Boundary Waters.

The congressional resolution, introduced by northeastern Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, pumped new life into the prospects of Twin Metals’ efforts to open an underground copper-nickel mine near Ely, just south of the Boundary Waters.

The federal government is also widely expected to return canceled federal mineral leases to Twin Metals before President Donald Trump leaves office.

Those actions have placed renewed emphasis on the state legislature, following years of back and forth in Washington, D.C., that saw Democratic administrations move to ban mining in the BWCA watershed, only to be reversed by the two Trump administrations.

Earlier this year, Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order blocking the state from permitting copper mines in the watershed, and he directed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to draft legislation to permanently ban mining in the area. But that order expires three months after Walz leaves office.

“There's a world in which we could pass that legislation before the executive order expires,” said Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters. “That's what we're working towards, is really ASAP passage of that bill."

‘A thorny issue’

Backers of a mining ban are emboldened by the Nov. 3 election results in Minnesota, but they stress there’s still a lot of work ahead lobbying legislators and building support.

“It'll be my first bill and my top priority in the coming session,” said Rep. Alex Falconer, DFL-Eden Prairie, who campaigned with a canoe strapped to the roof of his car. He introduced the legislation last session and is optimistic about its chances in the next session.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of new members that I’ve got to meet and talk to, and I have to build a coalition to make this happen."

Marshall, of Friends of the Boundary Waters, said large DFL majorities in the legislature don’t guarantee the bill’s passage.

"I wish I could say this was a done deal and that the margins automatically meant that we're going to, you know, check this box in our liberal wish list,” Marshall said. “But it has always been a thorny issue for the DFL."

Northeastern Minnesota politics used to be dominated by pro-mining, pro-labor Iron Range Democrats. But the region is now mostly represented by Republicans. DFLer Aaron Schweiger bucked that trend this election, flipping a House seat in a district north of Duluth.

Schweiger walks a fine line on the issue. He supports the economic benefits of mining. But he's concerned about the environmental impacts of copper-nickel mining, which, when not contained, can cause severe, long-lasting pollution to groundwater and nearby waterways.

"In its current form, I do not support mining in the Boundary Waters watershed area,” Schweiger said. “But that doesn't mean in the future we couldn't find a safe way to do it."

That's why he says he's concerned about a permanent mining ban in the area.

"I'm not opposed to a short-term moratorium, but I still have some reservations about a permanent ban,” Schweiger said. “And so until I see that language, I couldn't say how I would vote on it."

Fighting for mining

Julie Lucas, executive director of the industry group Mining Minnesota, is preparing to meet with Schweiger and the other 51 new legislators. Her main goal, she said, is to educate lawmakers about what mining looks like in the 21st century.

“You know, [when] we hear people talk about mining, they still talk about pickaxes and shovels,” Lucas lamented. “We are so much more advanced than we were even 20 years ago, and we want people to see us as who we are, not who we used to be."

A mining ban wouldn't just block Twin Metals, the company planning an underground mine outside Ely, Lucas stressed. It would also impact other companies, including NewRange Copper Nickel, which is exploring a deposit partially located in the Boundary Waters watershed.

Rep. Roger Skraba, R-Ely, who was reelected last week, said mining is critical to his district’s future. He hopes for a collaborative approach from Democrats that invests in the region.

“I'm hoping it's not a slam dunk,” Skraba said. “I hope people realize that you're messing with a whole community. And I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's right."

University of Minnesota Political Scientist Larry Jacobs said the stars are aligned for Democrats to act on the issue.

“They have the votes,” Jacobs said. “This is the moment to move on it, and the environmental advocates at the Capitol are going to be pushing very hard.”

But he added that any bill will have to be narrowly cast to win the approval of DFL Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar, who's long touted her Iron Range roots.

"Amy Klobuchar has built a rural constituency that she's very protective of,” Jacobs said. “She's going to want to have protection of the existing taconite mines, and she's going to want to see substantial investments in economic development in the Iron Range."

Ten years ago, Klobuchar wrote a letter of support for Twin Metals after the Obama administration first proposed a mining ban in the watershed of the Boundary Waters.

But in an interview last week with MPR News, she emphasized her recent vote in the U.S. Senate against the congressional resolution to reverse the federal mining ban.

"I have been very clear that I will not endanger the Boundary Waters. I support protecting the Boundary Waters,” Klobuchar said.

So do a majority of Minnesotans. A recent Star Tribune-KARE 11 poll found about two-thirds of likely Minnesotan voters opposed new mines near the Boundary Waters. That includes a majority of voters in northern Minnesota.

Special thanks to Danger Boat Productions and the Minnesota Humanities Center for their Sketches of Minnesota events around the state that helped inform this report.

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