I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1796 

To withdraw all Federal land located within the Rainy River Drainage Basin 

in Minnesota from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under 

the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws 

and operation under the mineral leasing laws, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2015 

Ms. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To withdraw all Federal land located within the Rainy River 

Drainage Basin in Minnesota from all forms of entry, 

appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, 

location, entry, and patent under the mining laws and 

operation under the mineral leasing laws, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Park and 

5 Wilderness Waters Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) The Rainy River Drainage Basin head4 waters begin in northeastern Minnesota and flow 

5 north to Canada. Located within Rainy River Drain6 age Basin are Voyageurs National Park and Bound7 ary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which were es8 tablished by Congress to protect their unique and 

9 pristine water resources. 

10 (2) Voyageurs National Park which is com11 prised of more than 218,000 acres, is a water based 

12 national park that contains lakes, shorelines, and is13 lands stretching along 55 miles of the United 

14 States–Canadian border. 

15 (3) The Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilder16 ness is the most visited national wilderness area in 

17 the United States. It is comprised of more than 

18 1,000,000 acres and over 1,200 miles of canoe 

19 routes in myriad lakes and rivers. It extends ap20 proximately 150 miles along the United States–Ca21 nadian border. 

22 (4) The mining of copper and other metals on 

23 Federal lands in the Superior and Chippewa Na24 tional Forests, within the Rainy River Drainage 

25 Basin, poses a direct and long-term impact to the 

26 pristine water quality of Voyageurs National Park 


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1 and Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness from 

2 sulfide-ore mining contamination. 

3 (5) The risk of sulfide contamination to Voya4 geurs National Park and Boundary Water Canoe 

5 Area Wilderness from the mining of copper, nickel, 

6 platinum, palladium, gold, and silver on Federal 

7 lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin puts at 

8 risk the nationally recognized natural resources of 

9 the area, as well as the region’s economically vibrant 

10 tourism industry which generates an estimated 

11 $852,000,000 annually and sustains more than 

12 18,000 jobs. 

13 SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND. 

14 Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal lands 

15 within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota are 

16 withdrawn from all forms of— 

17 (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 

18 public land laws; 

19 (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 

20 laws; and 

21 (3) operation under the mineral leasing and 

22 mineral material laws. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LEASES OR PERMITS INVOLVING 

2 MINING ACTIVITIES. 

3 (a) MAJOR FEDERAL ACTION.—Approval of any 

4 lease or permit in the Rainy River Drainage Basin is 

5 deemed to be a major Federal action significantly affect6 ing the quality of the human environment if that lease 

7 or permit involves activities related to mineral production. 

8 (b) EIS.—An environmental impact statement con9 ducted for the major Federal action described in sub10 section (a) shall include, among other issues, consideration 

11 of any potential impacts, as a result of such lease or per12 mit, to units of the National Park System or land in the 

13 National Wilderness Preservation System located in the 

14 Rainy River Drainage Basin. 

15 (c) SUSPENSION OF ACTIVITIES.—As a condition for 

16 the issuance or renewal of any lease or permit relating 

17 to mineral production, the entity receiving such lease or 

18 permit shall be required to seasonally monitor water qual19 ity throughout the Rainy River Drainage Basin. If any 

20 mining related contamination is detected in a unit of the 

21 National Park System or land in the National Wilderness 

22 Preservation System in the Rainy River Drainage Basin, 

23 all mining activities related to the contamination shall be 

24 immediately suspended until the head of the Federal agen25 cy that issues the lease or permit certifies that all contami26 nation was remediated. 


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1 (d) REMEDIATION PLAN; BOND.—The Federal agen2 cy shall not approve any mining related activities in the 

3 Rainy River Drainage Basin until the entity holding a 

4 lease or permit for that mining activity has submitted to 

5 the Federal agency— 

6 (1) an acceptable contamination remediation 

7 plan that outlines the strategies and tactics that the 

8 entity would undertake in the event that contamina9 tion is discovered; and 

10 (2) a full reclamation and performance bond 

11 that is sufficient to return the affected area to its 

12 original condition and treat any potential contamina13 tion for 50 years following the conclusion of any 

14 mining activities. 

15 (e) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The provisions of this section 

16 shall not apply to existing sand, gravel, and granite oper17 ations in the Rainy River Drainage Basin. 

Æ 


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