Counterpoint: Mining changes the landscape and ecosystem

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Julie Lucas of the copper-mining industry organization MiningMinnesota writes of stakeholder engagement, proceeding in good faith, doing favors for the Earth, smartphones and sunsets (”Counterpoint: We aren’t doing the Earth any favors by saying ‘no’ to mining,” Strib Voices, Dec. 4). But she fails to write of the massive and irreversible harm that would inevitably result from copper mining in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) watershed, a great water-collecting landscape in the Superior National Forest. Even Lucas’ predecessor at MiningMinnesota acknowledged that “mining by its nature and scale causes significant changes in the landscape and ecosystem.”

Lucas’ expressed desire to do favors for the Earth does not include the BWCA, because its watershed is a part of the Earth that is coveted by international copper-mining companies like Antofagasta of Chile. Proposals by those companies to mine copper upstream of the BWCA in fact contemplate ruination of that unique part of the Earth.

The BWCA is America’s most-visited wilderness area. It is a wonderland of forests, lakes, streams and wetlands that is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. Eighty percent of the BWCA sits in the downstream half of the watershed. Up to five copper mines are proposed in the upstream half of the watershed — some of them within spitting distance of the wilderness. Pollution in the upstream half flows to the downstream half, of course. Polluted waters from copper mining would flow into the clean waters of the BWCA.

Lucas’ argument that Minnesota’s non-degradation water-quality standard will protect the BWCA has a major hole in it: All copper mines pollute. Having a non-degradation standard that a mining company’s permit requires it to meet doesn’t do the BWCA any good when the company fails to meet the standard.

The degraded waters would be impossible to fix because of the hydrogeological complexity of interconnected waterways. Further, even if a water treatment fix were available, chemical or mechanical cleanup within the wilderness would be completely at odds with the Wilderness Act.

The U.S. Forest Service, which manages the BWCA, concluded that copper mining in the headwaters of the BWCA would pose a grave risk to the wilderness. The Forest Service has held this view since 2016, across three administrations, both Democratic and Republican. Consistent with federal law, it asked the secretary of the interior to take action to protect the BWCA.

Despite Lucas’ implication, good-faith stakeholder involvement has been a hallmark of decision-making about mining proposals and the BWCA. A thorough environmental review, required by law, was well-publicized and was completed in December 2022. Industry, labor unions, elected officials, businesses, interest-based organizations and the general public provided extensive comments during the legally required comment period. Since 2016, during public-comment periods established by federal government agencies, 675,000 people have submitted comments in opposition to copper mining in the BWCA watershed and in support of a permanent ban.

As a result of the mandated environmental review, in January 2023 Interior Secretary Deb Haaland determined that copper mining in the headwaters of the BWCA would pose a deadly risk to the wilderness and issued an order banning copper mining on certain federal lands in the BWCA watershed for the maximum period allowed by law, which is 20 years.

Lucas claims that the proposed mine sites on the edge of the BWCA are atop “one of the most significant undeveloped deposits ... on the globe.” The significant factor that in fact leaps out is the low grade of the ore. Metals in the BWCA watershed amount to less than 1% of the ore. That means that mining would generate an enormous amount of acid-generating waste rock. The state of Minnesota has already told Antofagasta that it won’t be allowed to lease state school-trust land for a 640-acre toxic tailings pile because of potential liability it would create for the state.

Further, any metals mined upstream from the BWCA would be too insignificant in quantity to assist meaningfully in a clean energy transition. Any metals extracted from ore in the BWCA watershed would be irrelevant to national security because metal concentrates would be shipped overseas, likely to China, for smelting, then sold on the world market.

The BWCA, a unique and precious landscape, belongs to the American people. People from across the nation will continue to work tirelessly to prohibit copper mining in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters.

Becky Rom is national chair of Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters in Ely, Minn.