Senate Approves Resolution Lifting Mining Ban Near Boundary Waters

The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday to approve a resolution that lifts a 20-year federal ban on mining in northern Minnesota's Superior National Forest, near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, clearing a path for potential extraction of critical minerals like copper and nickel. The measure, introduced by Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican from Duluth, passed the House in January and now heads to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

The ban, imposed by the Biden administration in 2023, covered approximately 400 square miles of federal land to protect the watershed and recreational value of the Boundary Waters, a 150-mile stretch of pristine lakes, forests and bogs along the Canadian border. Proponents of the restriction, including environmental groups, argued that mining could introduce pollutants such as mercury and sulfides into the area's waterways, harming fish, wildlife, plants and wild rice central to Chippewa tribal culture. The resolution uses the Congressional Review Act, a process that allows Congress to overturn agency actions with a simple majority, after the Interior Department belatedly reported the ban to the Congressional Record, making it...