the Media Room

BREAKING: Popular lake near the Boundary Waters recognized as impaired for sulfate by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

November 14, 2023

It has taken years of effort and tens of thousands of dollars in lab and equipment costs, but the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters’ tireless water quality monitoring work sheds light on Birch Lake – whose pollution has been ignored – until now

STATEMENT: Save the Boundary Waters statement on Twin Metals filing notice to appeal federal legal victory for the BWCA

November 9, 2023

RELEASE: Department of Natural Resources approves exploratory drilling plan next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

October 31, 2023

(Ely, MN) – Franconia Minerals’ plan to drill just upstream of the Boundary Waters was approved late yesterday afternoon by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

ICYMI Minnesota’s local CBS news station, WCCO, highlights Save the Boundary Waters’ decade of work fighting against sulfide-ore copper mining threats

October 24, 2023

WCCO, Minnesota’s local CBS news station, highlighted how the Campaign to Save The Boundary Waters built a movement that brought Minnesota’s sulfide-ore copper mining threat into the national spotlight.

RELEASE: Save the BW calls upon state to reject Twin Metals/Franconia plan

October 9, 2023

Save the Boundary Waters submits letter of objection to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources Commissioners, urging rejection of Franconia Minerals/Twin Metals Minnesota exploratory drilling plan on shores of popular recreational lake in Superior National Forest

RELEASE: BREAKING: Win for the Boundary Waters. Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness wins lawsuit against Twin Metals

September 6, 2023

(Ely, MN)-- Today, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW), the lead organization in the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, ten area businesses, and four conservation groups prevailed in the lawsuit in which the groups and businesses had intervened on the side of the United States government. Antofagasta’s subsidiaries Twin Metals Minnesota and Franconia filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in August 2022. The lawsuit sought to force the renewal of federal mineral leases next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which had been illegally renewed during the Trump Administration.

ICYMI The Timberjay: NMW lays out strategy for BWCAW protection

July 31, 2023

Executive director Ingrid Lyons of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters and national chair Becky Rom presented to a packed audience at the weekly Ely gathering “Tuesday Group,” where they outlined Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness’ strategy to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permanently. Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW) is the lead organization of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.

ICYMI: Fact check: No, the mineral withdrawal won't affect taconite mining

July 24, 2023

Local Northeastern Minnesota newspaper sets the story straight: the Biden administration’s 20-year mineral withdrawal banning mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters does not impact taconite mining, despite Rep. Stauber’s inaccurate pontifications on the matter.

RELEASE: Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness files a request for a contested case hearing as part of its lawsuit challenging the State’s outdated non-ferrous mine siting rules

June 29, 2023

(ELY, MN) -- Today, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness filed a request for a contested case procedure challenging the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order on Remand as part of a first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeking to amend Minnesota’s outdated non-ferrous mine siting rules.

RELEASE: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources finds current State rules inadequate to protect the Boundary Waters and will move to amend the state's sulfide-ore copper mining rules accordingly

May 31, 2023

Birch Lake near BWCAW polluted by sulfate, advocates blame taconite mines

Nov 29, 2023

Quetico Superior Wilderness News

MPCA: High levels of problematic pollutant found in Birch Lake upstream from BWCAW. Several lakes and rivers upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are contaminated with sulfate, which causes more mercury in fish and kills manoomin (wild rice), according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and several citizen-led sampling efforts. In the past two years, the agency has considered new data that shows how waters downstream of past and present iron mines exceed standards for sulfate levels designed to protect the environment.

MPCA: Birch Lake impaired from sulfate discharges

Nov 16, 2023

The Timberjay

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has added Birch Lake to its draft list of the state’s impaired wild rice waters due to sulfate contamination from nearby mining operations. That list, which is updated every two years, was released in draft form on Tuesday. Pending public comments and approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the final list is expected to be approved next April.

State officials add dozens of lakes and streams to impaired waters list for sulfate and PFAS pollution

Nov 16, 2023

MPR News

State officials are proposing to add 54 lakes, rivers and streams to the list of Minnesota waters considered impaired because of pollution, including a large lake on the border of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Birch Lake near BWCA added to impaired waters list due to sulfate pollution

Nov 16, 2023

Fox 9

Birch Lake near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has been added to the impaired waters list after a study found elevated levels of sulfate in the water.

Minnesota adds 20 wild rice lakes and streams to impaired list

Nov 16, 2023

Duluth News Tribune

A group opposed to mining near the Boundary Waters hopes that adding Birch Lake will make permitting a copper-nickel mine more difficult.

Pollution found in Birch Lake could help shield it from mining

Nov 16, 2023

CBS News

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Lake that flows to Boundary Waters placed on state's list of polluted waters

Nov 15, 2023

Star Tribune

Already impaired by taconite mine pollution, Birch Lake could face new threats from a proposed copper-nickel mine, environmentalists say.

Twin Metals plan for exploratory drilling in northern Minnesota approved by DNR

Nov 14, 2023

KSTP

A mining company was recently given the green light to move forward with drilling exploratory borings in an area of the Superior National Forest connected to the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).

Twin Metals files legal appeal to force mineral rights renewal

Nov 9, 2023

Quetico-Superior News

Twin Metals, the company seeking to operate a copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, has appealed a recent federal court decision that blocked its mine proposal from proceeding. U.S. District Court judge Christopher Cooper dismissed a Twin Metals lawsuit in September, a decision the subsidiary of Chilean conglomerate Antofagasta PLC is now seeking to overturn.

Minnesota DNR gives Twin Metals green light for exploratory drilling near Boundary Waters

Nov 1, 2023

MinnPost

With its plan to explore for nickel, cobalt and other minerals on non-federal land, Twin Metals has made an end run of a 20-year federal moratorium that dashed its efforts to mine in the Superior National Forest, whose watershed feeds into the Boundary Waters.

VIDEOS & WEBINARS

(Scroll down for webinars)

Short video celebrating the life of Former Vice President Walter Mondale, who fought fervently to protect Minnesota’s Boundary Waters from toxic mining.

Watch the entire "Boundary Waters Traverse" film! On May 22, 2021 Alex Falconer ran over 110 miles in 38 hrs 15 mins and 3 seconds, through the heart of the Boundary Waters completing the first known attempt to trail run the "Boundary Waters Traverse”.

Patagonia's feature-length film - Public Trust. The film focuses on the Boundary Waters and other high-profile, threatened public lands across the United States.

In Deep Water: A Fight to Save the Boundary Waters The Campaign produced a mini-documentary to educate new audiences on the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining on the edge of the Boundary Waters.

Kids for the Boundary Waters is an organization run by youth with the goal of building a community of young wilderness advocates.

KEEN Story Camp was an event that included a public open-mic session on the edge of the Wilderness, where attendees canoed the lakes during the day and told stories around the fire at night.

A stunning short film that follows Dave and Amy Freeman's year spent in the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Bear Witness shares Dave and Amy's experiences in all seasons and how the Freemans dedicated themselves to this expedition in an effort to raise awareness about the threats to the Boundary Waters from proposed sulfide-ore copper mining.

Covering 2,000 miles and crossing nine states, authors and National Geographic Adventurers of the Year Amy and Dave Freeman are biking from Ely, Minnesota, to Washington D.C. this spring to promote their new book, A Year in the Wilderness, and continue their efforts to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of our country’s most precious and expansive Wilderness areas.

A short documentary film centered around protecting the Boundary Waters. The film's focus is on the people who help spread appreciation for the land and carry on, in their own individual ways, the legacy of Sigurd Olson, a writer and conservationist who was responsible for the area's National Forest designation in 1978.