Minnesota has taken important steps to protect the Boundary Waters and its watersheds, but there's still more work to do.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota is a 1.1 million-acre landscape filled with pristine lakes and rivers. However, it is under threat. Twin Metals, owned by foreign mining giant Antofagasta, wants to build a toxic sulfide-ore copper mine upstream of the Boundary Waters, directly threatening the Wilderness. Unlike Minnesota’s legacy of iron and taconite mining, copper mining has never been done in Minnesota, and never has been done safely anywhere. Every copper mine that has been built has polluted.
The state of Minnesota has the power to stop this type of mine. It can be done by the state’s regulatory authority. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the agency that would permit the Twin Metals mine, has the power to say NO by denying Twin Metals’ State Permit to Mine request. It can happen through legislation. Passing a permanent protection bill through the Minnesota legislature and blocking other bad Boundary Waters bills is critical to achieving lasting protection. Finally, this can be stopped through litigation. Lawsuits have the power to stop or delay projects and challenge existing state mining standards.
In 2027, we will have an opportunity to pass permanent protection in the state legislature, but we need your help. Make an early donation for Give to the Max Day on November 19.
The Twin Metals mine is proposed on a patchwork of state, federal, and private lands. Twin Metals needs “permission” and approval to mine on all of these lands. That means that even with federal leases restored, a mine cannot be built without state permits and approval.
This year, Minnesota took a historic step to protect the Boundary Waters watershed from copper mining. Governor Walz issued a landmark executive order to protect the watershed from dangerous copper mining, setting the stage for lasting protection. This order halts state environmental review and permitting by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for any new sulfide-ore copper mining proposals within the watershed. This will remain in place until the pending legal challenge to Minnesota's outdated mining rules is fully resolved and subsequent rulemaking to strengthen protections for the Boundary Waters is completed.
But the work isn’t finished.
This winter, the Minnesota Legislature can build on Governor Walz’s leadership by passing a state bill that would permanently protect this extraordinary Wilderness from sulfide-ore copper mining.
That’s why we’re excited to announce the launch of our Permanent Protection Fund. This new fund will ensure Save the Boundary Waters is ready to seize this historic opportunity when the 2027 legislative session begins. The 2027 session starts in January and is the key to achieving permanent protection, and the work that gets us there starts now.
Your donations fund the advocacy, organizing, research, and coalition work that gets us ready for 2027. It gives us the confidence to plan ahead and the resources to act.
Make a gift to the permanent protection fund.
A group of generous supporters knows that permanent protection is within reach, and they just announced a $55,000 matching gift during early giving for Give to the Max Day.