REGIONAL— A U.S. House committee held an at-times contentious hearing on Tuesday over proposed legislation that would expand the mining protection area surrounding the Boundary Waters by approximately 225,000 acres.
The legislation, known as HR 2794 and proposed by Minnesota Fourth District Congresswomen Betty McCollum, would prohibit sulfide-based mineral development along a portion of the Superior National Forest located upstream of the 1.1 million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The bill would, in effect, extend the Boundary Water’s mining buffer zone to include an area of the Rainy River watershed that lawmakers had excluded from protection back in 1978 due to the existence of copper-nickel mineral leases that the Department of the Interior had issued to the International Nickel Company in 1966.
The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources took up McCollum’s bill, which appears to have the support of majority Democrats on the committee.
Two Ely area residents, including Steve Piragis, longtime co-owner of Piragis Northwoods Company, and Julie Padilla, chief regulatory officer for Twin Metals, testified during the hearing.
Eighth District Congressman Pete Stauber, who is the ranking minority member on the committee, testified as well and took a sharply accusatory tone toward supporters of the legislation.
Rather than an effort to protect the Boundary Waters, Stauber suggested the bill was an effort by elitists from outside the region to stifle the northeastern Minnesota economy and impoverish its residents. “It’s about keeping opportunity, wealth, and economic development out of northern Minnesota,” Stauber said. “It’s about ending an industry that has employed Minnesotans and Iron Rangers for over 130 years.”
Stauber’s comments drew pushback from Democrats on the committee, who noted that the mining industry that Stauber was referencing, which involves iron ore and taconite, would be unaffected by the legislation in question, since it only applies to sulfide-based mining.
Former Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell testified that sulfide ore mining has proven to be particularly dangerous in other parts of the U.S. and around the world due to its proclivity for producing acid rock drainage. Tidwell, who served under the Obama administration, had issued the decision not to renew mineral leases for the proposed Twin Metals mine.
“My decision to deny renewal of the mineral leases was based on the inherent risk of sulfide ore copper mining and the high potential for the release of mining pollution, including acid mine draingage, into the water -rich environment of the Boundary Waters,” stated Tidwell.
“My decision was based on an exhaustive scientific review and engagement with the public,” he added.
While Stauber accused bill proponents of wanting to destroy the northern Minnesota economy, Piragis argued that wilderness protection was the best bet for sustainable economic viability in the region, citing a study by Harvard economists that predicted more jobs and more total income in the region from continued wilderness protection than the proposed Twin Metals mine. “Our business, like hundreds of others like it surrounding the Boundary Waters, can grow and prosper but only if the Boundary Waters is sustained in its purest form,” he said.
“The Ely Chamber of Commerce calls the Ely region the last pure experience,” noted Piragis.
“Ely’s exemplary reputation for wildlife viewing, canoe camping, and wilderness adventure has brought visitors from around the country and the world and many return to live and build businesses and eventually retire as a result of the halo effect that tourism offers.”
Padilla, in her own testimony, argued that the biggest threat to the Boundary Waters, was from climate change and argued that the minerals that Twin Metals proposes to mine would help with the nation’s transition to renewable energy that’s needed to combat climate change.
“The region where Twin Metals has proposed to operate and where the proposed ban would apply contains the vast majority of the United State’s domestic nickel, cobalt, and platinum group metals and about a third of our copper,” Padilla stated.
She argued that the Twin Metals mine plan could be implemented safely without creating acid rock drainage or polluting the Boundary Waters and she said opponents of the mine were fearful that an environmental review of the plan would demonstrate that. “This is why they need legislation like this,” she said.
Tidwell, under later questioning, took issue with Padilla’s claim and said there’s no way the company could eliminate all risk from the mine. He said the complex hydrogeology of the area and shallow soils that provide little buffering, make the risks of mining near the BWCAW inherently greater than elsewhere in the U.S.
Stauber countered, pointing out that an open pit gold mine is currently operating within the Rainy River watershed in Canada. But McCollum responded in later questioning, noting that the mine Stauber referenced was located downstream of the Boundary Waters and could not impact the water quality in the wilderness area.
Committee chair Alan Lowenstein acknowledged northern Minnesota’s long history of mining and asked Tidwell to discuss the differences between the region’s iron ore and taconite industry and the proposed Twin Metals mine. Tidwell said the two ore bodies are very different, and that risks associated with taconite mining can be more effectively mitigated.
Tidwell also noted that the bill under consideration would not affect other parts of the so-named Duluth Complex, a vast but low-grade mineral deposit, a small portion of which Twin Metals proposes to mine.
The bill would not impact PolyMet Mining’s proposed NorthMet mine, near Hoyt Lakes.
The committee concluded the hearing without a vote. That is expected to come later this year.