I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2072 

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 of the mineral leasing laws, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 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 of 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 Forever 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 of the mineral leasing and mineral 

22 material laws. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LEASES OR PERMITS INVOLVING 

2 MINING ACTIVITIES ON FEDERAL LANDS IN 

3 THE RAINY RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN. 

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

5 lease of, or permit for, an activity on Federal lands relat6 ing to mining in the Rainy River Drainage Basin is 

7 deemed to be a major Federal action significantly affect8 ing the quality of the human environment if that lease 

9 or permit involves activities related to mining. 

10 (b) EIS.—An environmental impact statement con11 ducted for the major Federal action described in sub12 section (a) shall include, among other issues, consideration 

13 of any potential impacts, as a result of such lease or per14 mit, to units of the National Park System or land in the 

15 National Wilderness Preservation System located in the 

16 Rainy River Drainage Basin. 

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

18 the issuance or renewal of any lease of, or permit for activ19 ity on, Federal lands relating to mining, the entity receiv20 ing such lease or permit shall be required to seasonally 

21 monitor water quality on Federal lands throughout the 

22 Rainy River Drainage Basin. If any mining related con23 tamination is detected in a unit of the National Park Sys24 tem or land in the National Wilderness Preservation Sys25 tem in the Rainy River Drainage Basin, all mining activi26 ties on Federal lands under such a lease or permit related 


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1 to the contamination shall be immediately suspended until 

2 the head of the Federal agency that issued the lease or 

3 permit certifies that all contamination has been remedi4 ated. 

5 (d) REMEDIATION PLAN; BOND.—The Federal agen6 cy shall not approve any mining related activities on Fed7 eral lands in the Rainy River Drainage Basin until the 

8 entity holding a lease or permit for that mining activity 

9 has submitted to the Federal agency— 

10 (1) an acceptable contamination remediation 

11 plan that outlines the strategies and tactics that the 

12 entity would undertake in the event that contamina13 tion is discovered; and 

14 (2) a full reclamation and performance bond 

15 that is sufficient to return the affected area to its 

16 original condition and treat any potential contamina17 tion for 50 years following the conclusion of any 

18 mining activities. 

19 SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 

20 This Act shall not apply to sand, gravel, granite, and 

21 taconite operations that exist on the date of the enactment 

22 of this Act. 

Æ 


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