But the Trump administration made quick work of reversing those changes, moves that revived the Twin Metals proposed copper-nickel mine project and paved the way for it to submit its mine plan to state and federal regulators in December 2019.
Now, with Biden in the White House, environmentalists are hopeful, and industry supporters are worried, that the administration could reinstate the Obama-era policies.
But Biden’s position is unclear. While two of Biden’s cabinet picks — U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., to lead the Department of Interior, and Tom Vilsack to again lead the Department of Agriculture — have already opposed copper-nickel mining in the watershed, Biden has also signaled support for boosting domestic production of metals like copper and nickel for the electric vehicle and solar industries.
Where the nominees stand
Both Haaland and Vilsack have taken positions against mining in the Rainy River Watershed, which is shared with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Vilsack has been more forceful. When he was agriculture secretary under Barack Obama, the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, withheld consent on the renewal of Twin Metals’ mineral leases and initiated a study that could have banned mining activity for 20 years in the watershed.
“The Boundary Waters is a natural treasure, special to the 150,000 who canoe, fish and recreate there each year, and is the economic lifeblood to local businesses that depend on a pristine natural resource,” Vilsack said in a 2016 news release announcing the decision. “I have asked Interior to take a timeout, conduct a careful environmental analysis and engage the public on whether future mining should be authorized on any federal land next door to the Boundary Waters.”
Even after he left office, Vilsack continued to be a vocal critic of Twin Metals. In a 2018 opinion piece in MinnPost, he called restrictions on mining near the Boundary Waters “one of the most important federal decisions affecting this special place since the signing of the 1978 Act,” and maintained that a mine’s boom-and-bust cycle would harm St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties’ high quality of life.
“A project like the proposed Antofagasta Twin Metals mine, which threatens the fundamental character and integrity of the Boundary Waters, puts all that at risk,” Vilsack wrote.
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