Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 668 To provide for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal lands and waters, including Voyageurs Na- tional Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 31, 2023 Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. OMAR, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KILMER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CHU, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. BUSH, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. MOORE of Wis- consin, Mr. CASE, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CARSON, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. POCAN, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. TONKO, Mr. LIEU, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. ROSS, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To provide for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal lands and waters, including Voyageurs National Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 668 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Boundary Waters Wil- 2 derness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds the following: 5 (1) The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder- 6 ness is a 1,090,000-acre Federal wilderness area, lo- 7 cated within the Superior National Forest, that was 8 originally designated in the Wilderness Act of 1964 9 (Public Law 88–577). 10 (2) The Forest Service manages the Boundary 11 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which includes— 12 (A) nearly 2,000 pristine lakes ranging in 13 size from 10 acres to 10,000 acres, and more 14 than 1,200 miles of canoe routes; 15 (B) 1,500 cultural resource sites including 16 historic Ojibwe village sites and Native Amer- 17 ican pictograph panel sites; and 18 (C) 150 miles of land and water on the 19 international border with the Government of 20 Canada. 21 (3) In 1978, Congress passed the Boundary 22 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act (Public Law 95– 23 495) to remove incompatible uses, prohibit mining 24 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 25 and on 220,000 acres of the Superior National For- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 668 IH est, and to provide management guidance to protect, 1 preserve, and enhance the lakes, waterways, and for- 2 ested areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 3 Wilderness to enhance public enjoyment of the 4 unique landscape and wildlife. 5 (4) The federally recognized Grand Portage 6 Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Fond du Lac 7 Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Bois 8 Forte Band of Chippewa retain hunting, fishing, and 9 other usufructuary rights throughout the entire 10 northeast portion of Minnesota, including the 11 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, under the 12 1854 Treaty of LaPointe. All Bands have a legal in- 13 terest in protecting natural resources and the Forest 14 Service shares in the Federal trust responsibility to 15 maintain treaty resources. 16 (5) The Rainy River Watershed lies within the 17 Superior National Forest, which contains 20 percent 18 of the fresh water supply in the entire National For- 19 est System. 20 (6) The Rainy River Watershed headwaters 21 begin in northeastern Minnesota and flow north 22 through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder- 23 ness and Voyageurs National Park and into Canada 24 along the shared international border. These inter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 668 IH national waters are governed by the 1909 Boundary 1 Waters Treaty, which states that ‘‘boundary waters 2 and the waters flowing across the boundary shall not 3 be polluted on either side to the injury of health or 4 property on the other’’. 5 (7) The waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe 6 Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park are 7 classified as Outstanding Resource Value Waters 8 under Federal and State law, and degradation of 9 water quality is prohibited. A risk of mining develop- 10 ment is acid mine drainage which generally occurs 11 when sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water 12 creating sulfuric acid, which decreases water pH and 13 leaches harmful metals such as copper, zinc, lead, 14 cadmium, iron, and nickel. 15 (8) Acid mine runoff from sulfide-ore copper 16 mining entering groundwater, rivers, streams, and 17 lakes harms aquatic life, degrades water quality, and 18 results in potential severe environmental impacts. 19 (9) A peer-reviewed study of water quality im- 20 pacts from 14 operating United States copper sul- 21 fide mines found 100 percent of the mines experi- 22 enced pipeline spills or accidental releases: 13 mines 23 experienced failures of water collection and treat- 24 ment systems to control contaminated mine seepage 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 668 IH resulting in significant negative water quality im- 1 pacts. 2 (10) The mining of copper and other metals in 3 sulfide bearing ore on Federal lands in the Superior 4 National Forest, within the Rainy River Watershed, 5 poses a direct and long-term threat from sulfide-ore 6 mining contamination to the pristine water and air 7 quality and healthy forested habitat of the Boundary 8 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs Na- 9 tional Park. 10 (11) The likely contamination of the air, water, 11 and forested habitat of the Boundary Waters Canoe 12 Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park from 13 the mining of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, 14 gold, and silver on Federal lands within the Rainy 15 River Watershed puts at risk— 16 (A) the nationally recognized natural re- 17 sources of the area; and 18 (B) the region’s amenity-based and tour- 19 ism industry, which if protected by a mineral 20 withdrawal, would grow by 1,500 to 4,600 more 21 jobs and $100,000,000 to $900,000,000 more 22 income over the next 20 years than if such min- 23 ing were not banned. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 668 IH (12) In 2016, the Forest Service issued a 1 Record of Decision which found ‘‘unacceptable the 2 inherent potential risk that development of a region- 3 ally untested copper-nickel sulfide ore mine within 4 the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe 5 Area Wilderness might cause serious and irreplace- 6 able harm to this unique, iconic, and irreplaceable 7 wilderness area’’. The Forest Service subsequently 8 proposed a 20-year mineral withdrawal of 234,328 9 acres of Federal lands and waters in the Rainy 10 River Watershed. 11 (13) In 2018, approximately 20 months into a 12 24-month review period of the Rainy River Water- 13 shed mineral withdrawal proposal, the Department 14 of Agriculture abruptly canceled the withdrawal ap- 15 plication and abandoned the Environmental Assess- 16 ment. 17 SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS AND 18 WATERS IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. 19 (a) DEFINITION OF MAP.—In this Act, the term 20 ‘‘Map’’ means the map prepared by the Forest Service en- 21 titled ‘‘Superior National Forest Mineral Withdrawal Ap- 22 plication Map’’ and dated December 5, 2016. 23 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Except as provided in subsection 24 (d) and subject to valid existing rights, the approximately 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 668 IH 234,328 acres of Federal land and waters in the Rainy 1 River Watershed of the Superior National Forest in the 2 State of Minnesota, as located on the Map and described 3 in the Federal Register Notice of Application for With- 4 drawal, dated January 19, 2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 6639), are 5 hereby withdrawn from— 6 (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and dis- 7 posal under the public land laws; 8 (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 9 laws; and 10 (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral 11 materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 12 (c) ACQUIRED LAND.—Any land or interest in land 13 within the area depicted on the Map that is acquired by 14 the United States after the date of enactment of this Act 15 shall, on acquisition, be immediately withdrawn in accord- 16 ance with this section. 17 (d) REMOVAL OF SAND, GRAVEL, GRANITE, IRON 18 ORE, AND TACONITE.—The Chief of the Forest Service 19 is authorized to permit the removal of sand, gravel, gran- 20 ite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest system 21 lands within the area depicted on the Map if the Chief 22 determines that the removal is not detrimental to the 23 water quality, air quality, and health of the forest habitat 24 within the Rainy River Watershed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 668 IH (e) AVAILABILITY OF MAP.—The Map shall be kept 1 on file and made available for public inspection in the ap- 2 propriate offices of the Forest Service and the Bureau of 3 Land Management. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H668.IH H668 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS