The Senate voted to pass a measure that would lift a Biden administration mining ban in northern Minnesota, opening the door to drilling for critical minerals in an area that environmentalists have sought to limit from development.
On Thursday, the Senate voted 50-49 to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution led by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) that would terminate the Biden administration’s 20-year mining ban on 225,504 acres in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near the Canadian border.
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The measure passed the House in January and will now be sent to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
“Never again can any Democrat President or administration unilaterally ban mining in this vital portion of the Superior National Forest, killing jobs and locking away trillions of dollars of critical minerals essential to our way of life,” Stauber said in a statement. “Mining is our past, our present, and our future – and the future looks bright!”
The Boundary Waters are located within the Superior National Forest, which contains reserves of copper, nickel, and cobalt. Those critical minerals are essential for technology applications in the energy and defense sectors.
The Trump administration has been seeking to expand the domestic critical mineral supply chain to reduce its reliance on Chinese minerals.
Republicans claimed that the Biden administration made a procedural misstep in imposing the ban in 2023 and failed to report the restrictions in the Congressional Record. Earlier this year, the Interior Department submitted a public land order to the record. That made the rule eligible for cancellation under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to cancel rules with only a simple majority in the Senate.
Over the past year, Republicans have used the CRA to repeal Biden administration policies that do not align with the current administration’s agenda. A federal agency cannot propose a similar rule in the future once a CRA is signed into law.
Democrats argued that the CRA is not intended to overturn public land orders, as it is typically used to overturn agency rules.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Thursday on the Senate floor ahead of the votes that “this is an unprecedented use of a mechanism that would have far-reaching consequences.”
“It would threaten public lands across the country,” Klobuchar said. “Secretaries of the interior have long had the ability to issue public land orders to reserve federal land for specific uses.
“Now, for the first time, the CRA is being used to rescind a public land order that bans mining in the Boundary Waters for 20 years.”
The Biden administration enacted the ban on the grounds that it was needed to preserve the environment and recreational activities. Proponents of the restriction argued that mining would cause irreparable harm to the region.
Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean miner Antofagasta, has been trying for years to develop a mining project in the affected area. The Trump administration could reissue the company’s mining lease, but it would still need to undergo environmental review and permitting.
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Stauber has argued that his bill would not allow mining in the Boundary Waters or weaken environmental safeguards.
The measure “simply returns the decision to established permitting processes, where science, not politics, guides the outcome,” Stauber said.
