I 

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. 

BARRAGA ́N, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIND, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 

DEGETTE, Ms. CHU, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, 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. GARCI ́A

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Boundary Waters Wil3 derness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder7 ness is a 1,090,000-acre Federal wilderness area, lo8 cated within the Superior National Forest, that was 

9 originally designated in the Wilderness Act of 1964 

10 (Public Law 88–577). 

11 (2) The Forest Service manages the Boundary 

12 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which includes— 

13 (A) nearly 2,000 pristine lakes ranging in 

14 size from 10 acres to 10,000 acres, and more 

15 than 1,200 miles of canoe routes; 

16 (B) 1,500 cultural resource sites including 

17 historic Ojibwe village sites and Native Amer18 ican pictograph panel sites; and 

19 (C) 150 miles of land and water on the 

20 international border with the Government of 

21 Canada. 

22 (3) In 1978, Congress passed the Boundary 

23 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act (Public Law 95– 

24 495) to remove incompatible uses, prohibit mining 

25 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 

26 and on 220,000 acres of the Superior National ForVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794

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1 est, and to provide management guidance to protect, 

2 preserve, and enhance the lakes, waterways, and for3 ested areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 

4 Wilderness to enhance public enjoyment of the 

5 unique landscape and wildlife. 

6 (4) The federally recognized Grand Portage 

7 Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Fond du Lac 

8 Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Bois 

9 Forte Band of Chippewa retain hunting, fishing, and 

10 other usufructuary rights throughout the entire 

11 northeast portion of Minnesota, including the 

12 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, under the 

13 1854 Treaty of LaPointe. All Bands have a legal in14 terest in protecting natural resources and the Forest 

15 Service shares in the Federal trust responsibility to 

16 maintain treaty resources. 

17 (5) The Rainy River Watershed lies within the 

18 Superior National Forest, which contains 20 percent 

19 of the fresh water supply in the entire National For20 est System. 

21 (6) The Rainy River Watershed headwaters 

22 begin in northeastern Minnesota and flow north 

23 through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder24 ness and Voyageurs National Park and into Canada 

25 along the shared international border. These interVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2794.IH H2794

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1 national waters are governed by the 1909 Boundary 

2 Waters Treaty, which states that ‘‘boundary waters 

3 and the waters flowing across the boundary shall not 

4 be polluted on either side to the injury of health or 

5 property on the other’’. 

6 (7) The waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe 

7 Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park are 

8 classified as Outstanding Resource Value Waters 

9 under Federal and State law, and degradation of 

10 water quality is prohibited. A risk of mining develop11 ment is acid mine drainage which generally occurs 

12 when sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water 

13 creating sulfuric acid, which decreases water pH and 

14 leaches harmful metals such as copper, zinc, lead, 

15 cadmium, iron, and nickel. 

16 (8) Acid mine runoff from sulfide-ore copper 

17 mining entering groundwater, rivers, streams, and 

18 lakes harms aquatic life, degrades water quality, and 

19 results in potential severe environmental impacts. 

20 (9) A peer-reviewed study of water quality im21 pacts from 14 operating United States copper sul22 fide mines found 100 percent of the mines experi23 enced pipeline spills or accidental releases: 13 mines 

24 experienced failures of water collection and treat25 ment systems to control contaminated mine seepage 


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1 resulting in significant negative water quality im2 pacts. 

3 (10) The mining of copper and other metals in 

4 sulfide bearing ore on Federal lands in the Superior 

5 National Forest, within the Rainy River Watershed, 

6 poses a direct and long-term threat from sulfide-ore 

7 mining contamination to the pristine water and air 

8 quality and healthy forested habitat of the Boundary 

9 Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs Na10 tional Park. 

11 (11) The likely contamination of the air, water, 

12 and forested habitat of the Boundary Waters Canoe 

13 Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park from 

14 the mining of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, 

15 gold, and silver on Federal lands within the Rainy 

16 River Watershed puts at risk— 

17 (A) the nationally recognized natural re18 sources of the area; and 

19 (B) the region’s amenity-based and tour20 ism industry, which if protected by a mineral 

21 withdrawal, would grow by 1,500 to 4,600 more 

22 jobs and $100,000,000 to $900,000,000 more 

23 income over the next 20 years than if such min24 ing were not banned. 


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1 (12) In 2016, the Forest Service issued a 

2 Record of Decision which found ‘‘unacceptable the 

3 inherent potential risk that development of a region4 ally untested copper-nickel sulfide ore mine within 

5 the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe 

6 Area Wilderness might cause serious and irreplace7 able harm to this unique, iconic, and irreplaceable 

8 wilderness area’’. The Forest Service subsequently 

9 proposed a 20-year mineral withdrawal of 234,328 

10 acres of Federal lands and waters in the Rainy 

11 River Watershed. 

12 (13) In 2018, approximately 20 months into a 

13 24-month review period of the Rainy River Water14 shed mineral withdrawal proposal, the Department 

15 of Agriculture abruptly canceled the withdrawal ap16 plication and abandoned the Environmental Assess17 ment. 

18 SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS AND 

19 WATERS IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. 

20 (a) DEFINITION OF MAP.—In this Act, the term 

21 ‘‘Map’’ means the map prepared by the Forest Service en22 titled ‘‘Superior National Forest Mineral Withdrawal Ap23 plication Map’’ and dated December 5, 2016. 

24 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

25 (d) and subject to valid existing rights, the approximately 


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1 234,328 acres of Federal land and waters in the Rainy 

2 River Watershed of the Superior National Forest in the 

3 State of Minnesota, as located on the Map and described 

4 in the Federal Register Notice of Application for With5 drawal, dated January 19, 2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 6639), are 

6 hereby withdrawn from— 

7 (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and dis8 posal under the public land laws; 

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

10 laws; and 

11 (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral 

12 materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 

13 (c) ACQUIRED LAND.—Any land or interest in land 

14 within the area depicted on the Map that is acquired by 

15 the United States after the date of enactment of this Act 

16 shall, on acquisition, be immediately withdrawn in accord17 ance with this section. 

18 (d) REMOVAL OF SAND, GRAVEL, GRANITE, IRON

19 ORE, AND TACONITE.—The Chief of the Forest Service 

20 is authorized to permit the removal of sand, gravel, gran21 ite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest system 

22 lands within the area depicted on the Map if the Chief 

23 determines that the removal is not detrimental to the 

24 water quality, air quality, and health of the forest habitat 

25 within the Rainy River Watershed. 


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1 (e) AVAILABILITY OF MAP.—The Map shall be kept 

2 on file and made available for public inspection in the ap3 propriate offices of the Forest Service and the Bureau of 

4 Land Management. 

Æ 


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