Environmental groups and Minnesota U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D) on the state capitol steps Wednesday urging residents to make their voices heard over a bill heading to the Senate floor that would overturn a 20-year ban on copper mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
"We appreciate that mining is crucial to our economy and our national security and our way of life, but that is not what this mine is about," Smith said at the event.
Smith says this proposed mine would allow a foreign conglomerate, in this case Chilean-owned, to benefit at risk to the wilderness that has long been protected from more mining.
Environmental groups say pollution from the mine would flow directly into the BWCA Wilderness, into national parks, and untouched natural areas downstream.
But there are disagreements about that, with advocates saying the mining operation would be heavily regulated and vetted, along with providing important jobs and money to the area.
"This mine is about a very well connected foreign mining conglomerate, Antofagasta," Smith said. "It wants to develop this mine, dig up the copper, leave us with the mess, then send the metal, most likely to China, and then sell it back to us or whoever is willing to pay the highest price."
In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration took action to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and surrounding watershed from mineral and geothermal leasing laws for a 20-year period. The Trump administration has been working to upend many of the protections put in place by previous administrations citing foreign dependence on minerals, and national security.
The bill is expected to hit the U.S. Senate floor sometime next week.