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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Park and 
Wilderness Waters Protection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The Rainy River Drainage Basin head-
waters begin in northeastern Minnesota and flow 
north to Canada. Located within Rainy River Drain-
age Basin are Voyageurs National Park and Bound-
ary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which were es-
tablished by Congress to protect their unique and 
pristine water resources. 
(2) Voyageurs National Park which is com-
prised of more than 218,000 acres, is a water based 
national park that contains lakes, shorelines, and is-
lands stretching along 55 miles of the United 
States–Canadian border. 
(3) The Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilder-
ness is the most visited national wilderness area in 
the United States. It is comprised of more than 
1,000,000 acres and over 1,200 miles of canoe 
routes in myriad lakes and rivers. It extends ap-
proximately 150 miles along the United States–Ca-
nadian border. 
(4) The mining of copper and other metals on 
Federal lands in the Superior and Chippewa Na-
tional Forests, within the Rainy River Drainage 
Basin, poses a direct and long-term impact to the 
pristine water quality of Voyageurs National Park 
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and Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness from 
sulfide-ore mining contamination. 
(5) The risk of sulfide contamination to Voya-
geurs National Park and Boundary Water Canoe 
Area Wilderness from the mining of copper, nickel, 
platinum, palladium, gold, and silver on Federal 
lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin puts at 
risk the nationally recognized natural resources of 
the area, as well as the region’s economically vibrant 
tourism industry which generates an estimated 
$852,000,000 annually and sustains more than 
18,000 jobs. 
SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND. 
Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal lands 
within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota are 
withdrawn from all forms of— 
(1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 
public land laws; 
(2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 
laws; and 
(3) operation under the mineral leasing and 
mineral material laws. 
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SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LEASES OR PERMITS INVOLVING 
MINING ACTIVITIES. 
(a) MAJOR FEDERAL ACTION.—Approval of any 
lease or permit in the Rainy River Drainage Basin is 
deemed to be a major Federal action significantly affect-
ing the quality of the human environment if that lease 
or permit involves activities related to mineral production. 
(b) EIS.—An environmental impact statement con-
ducted for the major Federal action described in sub-
section (a) shall include, among other issues, consideration 
of any potential impacts, as a result of such lease or per-
mit, to units of the National Park System or land in the 
National Wilderness Preservation System located in the 
Rainy River Drainage Basin. 
(c) SUSPENSION OF ACTIVITIES.—As a condition for 
the issuance or renewal of any lease or permit relating 
to mineral production, the entity receiving such lease or 
permit shall be required to seasonally monitor water qual-
ity throughout the Rainy River Drainage Basin. If any 
mining related contamination is detected in a unit of the 
National Park System or land in the National Wilderness 
Preservation System in the Rainy River Drainage Basin, 
all mining activities related to the contamination shall be 
immediately suspended until the head of the Federal agen-
cy that issues the lease or permit certifies that all contami-
nation was remediated. 
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(d) REMEDIATION PLAN; BOND.—The Federal agen-
cy shall not approve any mining related activities in the 
Rainy River Drainage Basin until the entity holding a 
lease or permit for that mining activity has submitted to 
the Federal agency— 
(1) an acceptable contamination remediation 
plan that outlines the strategies and tactics that the 
entity would undertake in the event that contamina-
tion is discovered; and 
(2) a full reclamation and performance bond 
that is sufficient to return the affected area to its 
original condition and treat any potential contamina-
tion for 50 years following the conclusion of any 
mining activities. 
(e) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The provisions of this section 
shall not apply to existing sand, gravel, and granite oper-
ations in the Rainy River Drainage Basin. 
Æ 
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