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On Thursday, June 23, the U.S. Forest Service released a 93-page draft environmental assessment (EA) calling for a 20-year ban (mineral withdrawal) on sulfide-ore copper mining on 225,378 acres of National Forest System land in the Rainy River Watershed.
The proposed mining area is located within a portion of the Rainy River watershed and outside the BWCAW and BWCAW Mining Protection Area.
An application for withdrawal for the land in the Superior National Forest was submitted on September 28, 2021, to Nada Culver, the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management. In October 2021, the Forest Service began a scoping period with public comments sought, along with comments received during the 2016 withdrawal request.
In part, that October 21, application stated, “The purpose of this proposed withdrawal is the protection of NFS lands within and adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Protection Area (MPA) from adverse environmental impacts arising from exploration and development of federally owned minerals conducted under the mineral leasing laws. In addition, this withdrawal application will allow for a comprehensive approach to analysis and protection of the social and natural resources, ecological integrity, and wilderness values that could be threatened by future mining in this area.”
The recently released Environmental Assessment (EA) went further, explaining, “The purpose of the requested withdrawal is to protect and preserve natural and cultural resources in the Rainy River Watershed, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Mining Protection Area, and in the 1854 Ceded Territory, from the known and potential adverse environmental impacts arising from exploration and development of Federally-owned minerals. The withdrawal is needed because the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have seen and can reasonably anticipate increasing interest within the private sector for developing the copper-nickel ore minerals in the Duluth-Complex that may adversely impact the Rainy River watershed.”
Quick to comment on the EA was Becky Rom, National Chair for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, “The environmental assessment released (today) provides a strong scientific foundation for a 20-year ban on copper mining in the Boundary Waters. It is deeply rooted in peer-reviewed science, law, and established federal public lands policy, and validates the concerns of local residents and the America people about the risk sulfide ore copper mining poses to the Wilderness. It is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the watershed of the Boundary Waters is the wrong place for this risky type of mining.”
In December 2016, the Obama administration suspended the two mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM) when, after years of study and lots of public comment, the U.S. Forest Service concluded that copper mining under these leases posed an unacceptable risk to the Boundary Waters and surrounding Superior National Forest lands and waters.
When the Trump administration took office, it didn’t take long to overturn the Obama decision and the environmental assessment was put on the back burner.
A May 2018 lawsuit brought by Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness and nine Northeastern Minnesota businesses against the Trump Administration alleged, “The Trump administration’s decision to reinstate the lease ignored the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to withhold consent to reinstate the mineral leases because of the likelihood of harm to the water quality of the Boundary Waters and the inability to mitigate Acid-Mine Drainage (AMD) in the vast interconnected rivers, lakes, and streams of the BWCA.”
Next, the Biden administration proposed a two-year mineral withdrawal for the Rainy River/ BWCAW watershed area in October 2021, with the possibility of extending the mineral withdrawal to 20 years. The Forest Service environmental assessment that was just released addressed the Biden administration’s concerns.
Meanwhile, Rep. Betty McColum introduced the Boundary Waters Protection and Pollution Act, that if passed would make the mineral withdrawal permanent.
Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Chilean Antofagasta, has proposed mining copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, and silver approximately nine miles southeast of Ely and 11 miles northeast of the city of Babbitt near the BWCAW.
Twin Metals Minnesota applied for a mining project that would involve the construction of an underground mining operation, processing facility, and dry stack tailings facility. In its plans, TMM proposed building a 100-acre ore-processing facility next to Birch Lake, located just outside of the 1.1 million acres of interconnected waterways and boreal forests that make up the BWCAW.
As proposed by Twin Metals, the processing plant would accept approximately 20,000 tons of mineralized ore per day. Twin Metals projects the mining operation would have brought 650 full-time jobs to the area and created 1,300 spinoff jobs.
Regarding the tailings and the leftover material from the minerals, TMM said half of the tailings “would be stored underground in the stopes as cemented backfill. This helps stabilizes the mine during and after production. The other half will be compacted into a dry stack mound and concurrently reclaimed with native soil and vegetation. No tailing dams are necessary, completely eliminating any risk of dam failure from the minerals.”
Twin Metals also says that because of the areas geology, as well as their mining methods, the tailings produced will be “nonacid generating—meaning there will be no acid rock drainage. The mining company also claims the remaining sulfur left in the tailings once minerals are removed does not meet “the threshold for acid generation.”
The counter-argument is that if the mine is permitted and the BWCAW watershed is poisoned by sulfide-ore copper mining acid runoff, the economic and environmental impact would be devastating now and into the far future.
Copper-nickel sulfide mining produces acid waste and, if not adequately contained (for hundreds of years),the tailings release heavy metals (lead, mercury, etc.) into the air and water, devastating animals, fish, and plants.
Of the BWCAW’s 1.1 million acres, 190,000 acres are water. Over 1,100 lakes and hundreds of miles of streams and rivers flow in and out of the park, many of which flow into the 1,180,000-acre Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.
A 30-day comment period will be held following the release of the EA, with the Forrest Service reviewing the comments. Once the Forest Service is done with the review, the EA will be sent to the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM will summarize the document and give it to U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland for a final decision.
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