1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I urge you to vote no on House Joint Resolution 140, which would overturn the mining moratorium protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Senate is scheduled to vote this week, and this measure threatens both our environmental heritage and the legal stability of public land protections. The BWCAW comprises over a million acres of pristine forests and glacial lakes along 150 miles of the U.S.-Canada border. It is the most visited wilderness in America, with approximately 250,000 annual visitors contributing over $17 million annually to the local economy through outdoor recreation. In 2023, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued Public Land Order 7917, closing over 350 square miles of the Superior National Forest to mineral leasing for 20 years after the U.S. Forest Service found that sulfide-ore copper mining could cause irreparable damage. Representative Pete Stauber's resolution misuses the Congressional Review Act to target a Public Land Order issued three years ago. Legal experts Jack Jones and Richard L. Revesz warn this violates the law and imperils the stability of agency action. The CRA was designed to overturn federal agency rules within 60 days, not to retroactively target Public Land Orders years after issuance. This unprecedented expansion threatens countless long-settled agency actions protecting public lands nationwide. The proposed mining by Chilean company Antofagasta Plc and its subsidiary Twin Metals Minnesota would expose sulfide-bearing ore to water, creating sulfuric acid and heavy metal contamination. Minnesota has never had a copper-sulfide mine because water compounds the dangers. As Senator Tina Smith stated, this foreign mining conglomerate wants to dig up copper, leave us with the mess, send the metal to China, and sell it back to us. On February 6, four direct descendants of Theodore Roosevelt, who dedicated these lands as the Superior National Forest in 1909, wrote their first collective letter urging senators to reject this resolution. They called it the opposite of America First and diametrically opposed to their great-grandfather's conservation legacy. Please vote no on H.J. Res. 140 and protect both the Boundary Waters and the legal framework that safeguards all public lands.