WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) celebrates the Biden Administration's announcement to extend further protection to protect the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) and surrounding watersheds. 

“Minerals, jobs, and clean water are all critical to our future,” said Phillips. “Repeated scientific review has revealed that mining projects near the BWCA pose the risk of irrevocable damage to our natural resources and undue risk to future generations. The Boundary Waters are as iconic as they are irreplaceable, and I applaud the Biden Administration’s decisive action to protect Minnesota’s most treasured watershed – and the local recreation-based economies that depend on it. My gratitude to the tireless advocates for the Boundary Waters, we could not have done this without the support and advocacy of our communities.”

Under Public Land Order 7917, signed by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland earlier today, the Biden Administration initiated a 20-year withdrawal plan for 225,000 acres of Superior National Forest land from disposition under the mineral and geothermal leasing law. These critical protections would temporarily prohibit the issuance of new prospecting permits and leases in the area – a crucial step towards preserving Minnesota's unique environmental ecosystems. 

The Boundary Waters is the most popular wilderness destination in the country, with more than 150,000 visitors each year from around the world. In addition to its negative environmental and public health impacts, an independent study from the Harvard Department of Economics found that pollution from sulfide-ore copper mining would threaten the 17,000 jobs that the BWCA brings to Minnesota.

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