# Plain Language Summary: Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act

This bill permanently bans mining for copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, and silver on about 234,000 acres of federal land and water in northeastern Minnesota. Specifically, it protects the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness—a massive 1.1 million-acre wilderness area with nearly 2,000 pristine lakes and over 1,200 miles of canoe routes—and the surrounding Rainy River Watershed that feeds into it. The bill essentially locks up these lands so that mining companies cannot stake claims or extract these metals from the area.

The main concern driving this bill is acid mine drainage, a serious environmental problem that happens when mining exposes sulfide minerals to air and water, creating sulfuric acid that poisons groundwater, rivers, and lakes with harmful metals like copper, zinc, and lead. The bill's supporters point to research showing that every single one of 14 operating U.S. copper sulfide mines experienced pipeline spills or failures in their water treatment systems, causing significant water contamination. They argue that mining in this watershed would inevitably contaminate the pristine waters that flow through the Boundary Waters and into Canada, violating an international treaty that prohibits polluting shared border waters.

The bill does allow limited removal of sand, gravel, granite, iron ore, and taconite—common construction and industrial materials—as long as the Forest Service determines it won't harm water quality, air quality, or forest health. The practical effect is that the region's tourism and outdoor recreation economy would be protected from the risks of mining contamination, though mining companies lose the opportunity to develop mineral resources in the area. Native American tribes with treaty rights to hunt and fish in the region also gain protection for the natural resources they depend on.

Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act

McCollum, Betty

Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act This bill withdraws approximately 234,328 acres of federal land and waters in a specified area in the Rainy River Watershed of Superior National Forest in Minnesota from <ul> <li>entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws;</li> <li>location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and </li> <li>operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.</li> </ul> The area is adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Mining Protection Area. Land or interest in land within such area that is acquired by the United States shall be immediately withdrawn in accordance with this bill. The Forest Service is authorized to permit the removal of sand, granite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest system lands within such area if the removal is not detrimental to the water quality, air quality, and health of forest habitat within the Rainy River Watershed.