Over these past few weeks, you’ve been speaking up for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness—and your voice is making a real difference.
This week, we’re in Washington, D.C., working on the ground to protect the Boundary Waters from harmful legislation on Capitol Hill.
Quick recap: A dangerous resolution (HJ Res 140) would undo protections that safeguard the Boundary Waters watershed from copper mining. It would also prevent future administrations from using the same safeguards on the Boundary Waters. Not to mention, it sets a dangerous precedent for rolling back protections on other public land using the Congressional Review Act. This resolution passed the U.S. House in January.
You might be wondering: when is the Senate set to vote on this resolution?
- The vote has not been scheduled yet, but could come up at any time.
- We usually only get 24-48 hours' notice when it’s put on the vote schedule.
- Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has 60 legislative working days to vote on HJ Res 140 - and that “clock” runs out at the end of April.
If and when this comes up for a vote, we want to win that vote – so keep calling your Senators.
Contacting your Senators and spreading the word in your networks across the country is so important – having potentially more time until the vote just means that we have more time to persuade them to VOTE NO because of what we already know: the Boundary Waters watershed is the wrong place for copper mining.
For those of us in Minnesota — here’s what you can do:
- Keep calling Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith – they’re both opposed to this bill, and you can thank them for their work.
- Then help your friends and family in other states call their Senators - use our Action Center for a script and numbers. Don’t forget that the Minnesota Legislature just convened last week. Send a message to your state-level lawmakers - there’s never been a more important time for them to support and work to pass the proposed state bill for permanent protection of the Boundary Waters watershed.
Thanks to you and thousands of other Wilderness defenders, Congress has been hearing nonstop opposition. Allies across the country are amplifying the message, and inboxes and voicemails are overflowing with calls to vote NO. From our organization alone, nearly 50,000 emails have been sent in recent weeks using our Action Center, urging members of Congress to vote no and protect the Boundary Waters. You have made a tremendous impact, keep it going.
Make sure that your friends, family, and camp buddies are calling and messaging their Senators, too.
