[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2794 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2794

    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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2021

 Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Pingree, 
 Mr. Phillips, Ms. Omar, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Gallego, Mr. 
   Kildee, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
Casten, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Norton, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. 
  Kind, Mr. Connolly, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Chu, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Roybal-
  Allard, Mrs. Axne, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Bush, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. 
Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Case, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Nadler, Ms. DelBene, and 
   Mr. Garcia of Illinois) 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Boundary Waters Wilderness 
Protection and Pollution Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a 
        1,090,000-acre Federal wilderness area, located within the 
        Superior National Forest, that was originally designated in the 
        Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577).
            (2) The Forest Service manages the Boundary Waters Canoe 
        Area Wilderness, which includes--
                    (A) nearly 2,000 pristine lakes ranging in size 
                from 10 acres to 10,000 acres, and more than 1,200 
                miles of canoe routes;
                    (B) 1,500 cultural resource sites including 
                historic Ojibwe village sites and Native American 
                pictograph panel sites; and
                    (C) 150 miles of land and water on the 
                international border with the Government of Canada.
            (3) In 1978, Congress passed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 
        Wilderness Act (Public Law 95-495) to remove incompatible uses, 
        prohibit mining within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 
        Wilderness and on 220,000 acres of the Superior National 
        Forest, and to provide management guidance to protect, 
        preserve, and enhance the lakes, waterways, and forested areas 
        of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to enhance public 
        enjoyment of the unique landscape and wildlife.
            (4) The federally recognized Grand Portage Band of Lake 
        Superior Chippewa, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior 
        Chippewa, and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa retain hunting, 
        fishing, and other usufructuary rights throughout the entire 
        northeast portion of Minnesota, including the Boundary Waters 
        Canoe Area Wilderness, under the 1854 Treaty of LaPointe. All 
        Bands have a legal interest in protecting natural resources and 
        the Forest Service shares in the Federal trust responsibility 
        to maintain treaty resources.
            (5) The Rainy River Watershed lies within the Superior 
        National Forest, which contains 20 percent of the fresh water 
        supply in the entire National Forest System.
            (6) The Rainy River Watershed headwaters begin in 
        northeastern Minnesota and flow north through the Boundary 
        Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park and 
        into Canada along the shared international border. These 
        international waters are governed by the 1909 Boundary Waters 
        Treaty, which states that ``boundary waters and the waters 
        flowing across the boundary shall not be polluted on either 
        side to the injury of health or property on the other''.
            (7) The waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 
        and Voyageurs National Park are classified as Outstanding 
        Resource Value Waters under Federal and State law, and 
        degradation of water quality is prohibited. A risk of mining 
        development is acid mine drainage which generally occurs when 
        sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water creating sulfuric 
        acid, which decreases water pH and leaches harmful metals such 
        as copper, zinc, lead, cadmium, iron, and nickel.
            (8) Acid mine runoff from sulfide-ore copper mining 
        entering groundwater, rivers, streams, and lakes harms aquatic 
        life, degrades water quality, and results in potential severe 
        environmental impacts.
            (9) A peer-reviewed study of water quality impacts from 14 
        operating United States copper sulfide mines found 100 percent 
        of the mines experienced pipeline spills or accidental 
        releases: 13 mines experienced failures of water collection and 
        treatment systems to control contaminated mine seepage 
        resulting in significant negative water quality impacts.
            (10) The mining of copper and other metals in sulfide 
        bearing ore on Federal lands in the Superior National Forest, 
        within the Rainy River Watershed, poses a direct and long-term 
        threat from sulfide-ore mining contamination to the pristine 
        water and air quality and healthy forested habitat of the 
        Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National 
        Park.
            (11) The likely contamination of the air, water, and 
        forested habitat of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 
        and Voyageurs National Park from the mining of copper, nickel, 
        platinum, palladium, gold, and silver on Federal lands within 
        the Rainy River Watershed puts at risk--
                    (A) the nationally recognized natural resources of 
                the area; and
                    (B) the region's amenity-based and tourism 
                industry, which if protected by a mineral withdrawal, 
                would grow by 1,500 to 4,600 more jobs and $100,000,000 
                to $900,000,000 more income over the next 20 years than 
                if such mining were not banned.
            (12) In 2016, the Forest Service issued a Record of 
        Decision which found ``unacceptable the inherent potential risk 
        that development of a regionally untested copper-nickel sulfide 
        ore mine within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe 
        Area Wilderness might cause serious and irreplaceable harm to 
        this unique, iconic, and irreplaceable wilderness area''. The 
        Forest Service subsequently proposed a 20-year mineral 
        withdrawal of 234,328 acres of Federal lands and waters in the 
        Rainy River Watershed.
            (13) In 2018, approximately 20 months into a 24-month 
        review period of the Rainy River Watershed mineral withdrawal 
        proposal, the Department of Agriculture abruptly canceled the 
        withdrawal application and abandoned the Environmental 
        Assessment.

SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS AND WATERS IN THE STATE OF 
              MINNESOTA.

    (a) Definition of Map.--In this Act, the term ``Map'' means the map 
prepared by the Forest Service entitled ``Superior National Forest 
Mineral Withdrawal Application Map'' and dated December 5, 2016.
    (b) Withdrawal.--Except as provided in subsection (d) and subject 
to valid existing rights, the approximately 234,328 acres of Federal 
land and waters in the Rainy River Watershed of the Superior National 
Forest in the State of Minnesota, as located on the Map and described 
in the Federal Register Notice of Application for Withdrawal, dated 
January 19, 2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 6639), are hereby withdrawn from--
            (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under 
        the public land laws;
            (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
            (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, 
        and geothermal leasing laws.
    (c) Acquired Land.--Any land or interest in land within the area 
depicted on the Map that is acquired by the United States after the 
date of enactment of this Act shall, on acquisition, be immediately 
withdrawn in accordance with this section.
    (d) Removal of Sand, Gravel, Granite, Iron Ore, and Taconite.--The 
Chief of the Forest Service is authorized to permit the removal of 
sand, gravel, granite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest 
system lands within the area depicted on the Map if the Chief 
determines that the removal is not detrimental to the water quality, 
air quality, and health of the forest habitat within the Rainy River 
Watershed.
    (e) Availability of Map.--The Map shall be kept on file and made 
available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the 
Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
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