Protect the Boundary Waters from Toxic Mining (UPDATED 4/15) - FINAL VOTE THURS

Updates

April 15, 2026: The Senate passed the initial procedural motion on H.J.Res. 140 by a vote of 51-49. Senators Collins (R-ME) and Tillis (R-NC) voted No with Democrats. Final passage vote is expected April 16th.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a 1.1 million-acre Wilderness in Northeastern Minnesota in the Superior National Forest along the Canadian border. It is the most-visited Wilderness in the country, a wild and beautiful place where millions of people have developed a lifelong love of the outdoors through camping, fishing, paddling, dog sledding, hunting, and hiking.

The Boundary Waters is threatened by proposed copper mining. Twin Metals, owned by Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, wants to build a copper-nickel mine immediately upstream of the Boundary Waters along waterways that flow into and through the heart of the Wilderness and downstream to Voyageurs National Park and Quetico Provincial Park in Canada. In 2023, after extensive review and public input, the Department of Interior signed a Public Land Order banning mining on 225,504 acres of federal public land around the Boundary Waters.

But there are now efforts to overturn the federal mining ban in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters. Right now, Congress is using a law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the regulation with a simple majority vote in the House and Senate; the CRA has never been used to rescind a Public Land Order in the past.

House Joint Resolution 140 (H.J.Res. 140) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan 21st, with a vote of 214-208. A vote is expected soon in the U.S. Senate and could come at any moment with little warning.

Content for this call topic kindly provided by Save the Boundary Waters