Statement on Executive Actions to Protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from Copper-Nickel Mining

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced it will take aggressive executive action to stop a copper-sulfide mine within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA): “Minnesotans strongly support protecting the Boundary Waters. We are a mining state, but not this mine in this place. The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress ignored the science and overturned protections for the Boundary Waters, but the fight continues here at home,” said Senator Smith. “I strongly support Minnesota using all our regulatory powers to stop this mine. I also support the legislature taking action to stop this mine. At the end of the day, this is about a foreign company mining our metals, shipping them to China, almost certainly polluting the BWCA in the process, and then selling them back to us for their profit and our loss. I’m glad Minnesota is standing up to protect this precious place.” ###