Know the Issue

What's to come

Jan 7, 2022
Ingrid Lyons
What's to come


Dear supporter - 

2021 has been a busy and important year for the fight for the Boundary Waters -- national momentum to finally protect this beloved Wilderness continues to build. The Biden Administration has taken the first steps towards initiating a 20-year sulfide-ore copper mining ban in the watershed of the Boundary Waters, and U.S. Representative Betty McCollum’s permanent protection bill is gaining support.

All of this work is possible thanks to incredible supporters like you, and is motivated by one powerful notion: there are some places, like the Boundary Waters, that are too important and unique to be put at risk by destructive copper mining. 

Thanks to your support of Save the Boundary Waters, protecting this wilderness is a priority issue for the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress. This has created a path to permanently protect the Boundary Waters and, downstream, Canada’s Quetico Park and Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park from the destruction of sulfide-ore copper mining, and we’ve got a lot to accomplish in 2022.


Here are three of our major priorities for the upcoming year:

  1. Get rid of the two unlawful Twin Metals federal mineral leases within the watershed of the Boundary Waters once-and-for-all. These two leases, along the shores of Birch Lake and the South Kawishiwi River, are where Twin Metals would build it’s massive copper mining operation. This termination of these leases requires the Biden Administration to act.

  1. We need thousands of supporters just like you participate in the national public comment period. This 90-day comment period ends on January 19, 2022, and is an opportunity for you to have your voice heard on whether or not the Boundary Waters watershed should be off the table for future mining development.

  2. Representative Betty McCollum’s permanent protection bill in congress, the Boundary Waters Protection and Pollution Prevention Act, has to be signed into law. Representative McCollum has been a longstanding champion for the Boundary Waters, and the passage of her bill would mean long-term protections for this Wilderness.


In 2022, we will also continue our legal battles on the federal level, as well as on the state level, which challenges Minnesota’s non-ferrous mining rules under the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act, work with Congress to complete and release a new environmental study that will demonstrate that the Boundary Waters watershed is no place for a copper mine, rally public support during input meetings with Federal Agencies in January, promote state legislation that would compliment Representative Betty McCollum’s federal bill, work with Congress to pass the federal permanent protection bill, support Wilderness edge communities with our Boundary Waters Connect project, and more!

As you can see, we at the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters have a lot on our plate in 2022, and are going to need help getting this all done. Please consider rushing a year-end gift today – the entirety of your donation goes directly to the work being done to permanently protect the Boundary Waters from toxic copper mining. If you’ve already given – thank you so much. Your support truly enables us to continue this urgent work on behalf of America’s favorite Wilderness. 

So here’s to progress and what’s to come, to you and your fellow supporters, and to the Wilderness we all love.

Sincerely,

Ingrid Lyons