A conservation group has listed a major river in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as the third most endangered river in the country on its annual list of threatened waterways.
It marks the fourth time American Rivers has included the South Kawishiwi River on its list of 10 most endangered rivers — it was also selected in 2013, 2018 and 2021.
The river winds in and out of the federally protected canoe wilderness area in northeast Minnesota. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, has proposed building an underground mine for copper and nickel along the pristine river’s shoreline near Ely, just south of the Boundary Waters.
The designation from American Rivers comes as the U.S. Senate is poised to take up a resolution later this month that would reverse the 20-year long ban on mining in the area, which could open the door for Twin Metals to reapply to open a mine there.
Conversation groups argue that mining for metals such as copper and nickel, which carries with it the potential for more severe water pollution than iron ore mining in Minnesota, could cause irreparable harm to one of the nation’s most cherished and highly visited wilderness areas.
“Spoiling some of the purest, most pristine waters for a foreign mine and foreign corporate interests is a short-sighted move that could cause irreversible harm to the region,” said Elizabeth Riggs, Great Lakes regional director for American Rivers.
In 2023, the Biden administration imposed a 20-year mining moratorium covering about 350 square miles of federal land south of the Boundary Waters, including where the Twin Metals mine would be located.
The land is located outside the Boundary Waters but within its watershed. As a result, water pollution from mining could flow into the federally protected wilderness area.
In January, the U.S. House passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Pete Sauber, R-Hermantown, to overturn the moratorium. It would also prohibit future administrations from imposing another ban.
Stauber’s resolution utilizes a law called the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules with simple majority votes in both chambers. That means it couldn’t be blocked by a Senate filibuster, which, under the upper chamber’s rules, requires 60 votes to call legislation for a vote.
But the Senate is running out of time to take up the measure. Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, said Congress faces a deadline of April 24 or April 27 to pass the resolution and send it to President Trump for his signature.
Lyons said Senate leadership has signaled the vote could occur in the next 10 days. She said public lands advocates are lobbying furiously against the measure. That includes descendants of former President and noted land conservationist Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who sent a letter to Congress urging members to reject the resolution and “seek ways to permanently protect the Boundary Waters.”
“We are having a lot of really good meetings, a lot of surprising meetings, about what overturning these protections would mean,” said Lyons, who describes it as an unprecedented effort to overturn public land management decisions. “It really kind of opens up a Pandora's box in terms of public land decisions.”
When Stauber introduced his resolution in January, he said the “dangerous and illegal mining ban was thrust upon my constituents and our way of life in Northern Minnesota and put our nation’s mineral security in jeopardy.”
Julie Lucas, executive director of the industry group Mining Minnesota, said overturning the moratorium wouldn’t mean an automatic green light for mining projects. They would still have to go through years of applying for permits and environmental impact studies.
“It's about getting us back into the conversations and back into environmental review. Because these are significant deposits there, and we should be looking at what it would mean to mine those.”
Lucas says those in the mining industry also value the preciousness of the Boundary Waters.
“We didn't go into this industry because we don't love the environment. We went into it because we want to make mining better.”
