December 19, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 206 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





      SUPPORT FOR FOREST SERVICE AS CO-LEAD FOR ANY NEPA-REQUIRED 
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF TWIN METALS MINE PLAN ADJACENT TO THE BOUNDARY 
                      WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS

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                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 19, 2019

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, a mine plan of operation for a Twin 
Metals sulfide-ore copper mine adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe 
Area Wilderness (BWCA) and upstream of Voyageurs National Park was 
submitted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on December 18, 2019, 
along with applications for federal mineral leases. The proposed mine 
site is on Superior National Forest land in Minnesota. NEPA-required 
environmental review is expected to commence early in 2020.
  The Superior National Forest and the BWCA are managed by the Forest 
Service. Under 16 USC Sec. 508b the Forest Service has independent 
consent authority for mining approvals in the Superior National Forest 
and thus has co-equal authority for mining decisions. For 20 months in 
2017 and 2018, the Forest Service led a detailed study of 
environmental, economic, and social impacts of copper mining in the 
watershed of the BWCA.
  For all of these reasons, Congress expects that any NEPA-required 
environmental review of a Twin Metals mine plan and federal mineral 
leases be co-led by the Forest Service and the BLM, and not led solely 
by the BLM.

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