FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 27, 2026
Libby London, Libby@SavetheBoundaryWaters.org
STATEMENT: Trump just signed H.J. Resolution 140 into law, officially overturning Public Land Order 7917
(Washington, DC) – The President just signed H.J. Res. 140 into Law. This resolution used the rarely used Congressional Review Act (CRA) and officially revokes Public Land Order (PLO) 7917, which was signed in January 2023 and protected over 225,000 acres of federal land in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park from the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining for 20 years.
Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters, issued the following statement:
“While this outcome was anticipated following the Senate’s vote earlier this month, it is no less disappointing. This decision dismisses outright years of rigorous scientific evidence, the voices of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and the clear will of Minnesotans—70 percent of whom support permanent protection of the Boundary Waters. All of it swept aside in a single paragraph. But Americans won’t stop fighting for permanent protection of this most visited Wilderness.”
The White House statement:
On Monday, April 27, 2026, the President signed into law:
H.J.Res. 140, which disapproves a 2023 Bureau of Land Management Public Land Order, which withdrew approximately 225,504 acres of National Forest System lands in Cook, Lake, and Saint Louis Counties, Minnesota, from mineral and geothermal leasing for 20 years.
Read more about the disastrous implications of HJ Res. 140 here and what’s next for the Boundary Waters at the state level.
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