Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB588 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 588
5	5	To provide for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
6	6	and interconnected Federal lands and waters, including Voyageurs Na-
7	7	tional Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota,
8	8	and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY21, 2025
11	11	Ms. M
12	12	CCOLLUM(for herself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BEYER, Ms. BROWNLEY,
13	13	Mr. C
14	14	ASTEN, Ms. CHU, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illi-
15	15	nois, Mr. H
16	16	UFFMAN, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Ms. MORRISON, Mr. NAD-
17	17	LER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms.
18	18	S
19	19	TANSBURY, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. TONKO, and Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia)
20	20	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
21	21	Natural Resources
22	22	A BILL
23	23	To provide for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe
24	24	Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal lands and
25	25	waters, including Voyageurs National Park, within the
26	26	Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota, and
27	27	for other purposes.
28	28	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
29	29	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
30	30	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
31	31	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Boundary Waters Wil-4
32	32	derness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act’’. 5
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35	35	•HR 588 IH
36	36	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
37	37	Congress finds the following: 2
38	38	(1) The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder-3
39	39	ness is a 1,090,000-acre Federal wilderness area, lo-4
40	40	cated within the Superior National Forest, that was 5
41	41	originally designated in the Wilderness Act of 1964 6
42	42	(Public Law 88–577). 7
43	43	(2) The Forest Service manages the Boundary 8
44	44	Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which includes— 9
45	45	(A) nearly 2,000 pristine lakes ranging in 10
46	46	size from 10 acres to 10,000 acres, and more 11
47	47	than 1,200 miles of canoe routes; 12
48	48	(B) 1,500 cultural resource sites including 13
49	49	historic Ojibwe village sites and Native Amer-14
50	50	ican pictograph panel sites; and 15
51	51	(C) 150 miles of land and water on the 16
52	52	international border with the Government of 17
53	53	Canada. 18
54	54	(3) In 1978, Congress passed the Boundary 19
55	55	Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act (Public Law 95– 20
56	56	495) to remove incompatible uses, prohibit mining 21
57	57	within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 22
58	58	and on 220,000 acres of the Superior National For-23
59	59	est, and to provide management guidance to protect, 24
60	60	preserve, and enhance the lakes, waterways, and for-25
61	61	ested areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 26
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64	64	•HR 588 IH
65	65	Wilderness to enhance public enjoyment of the 1
66	66	unique landscape and wildlife. 2
67	67	(4) The federally recognized Grand Portage 3
68	68	Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Fond du Lac 4
69	69	Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Bois 5
70	70	Forte Band of Chippewa retain hunting, fishing, and 6
71	71	other usufructuary rights throughout the entire 7
72	72	northeast portion of Minnesota, including the 8
73	73	Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, under the 9
74	74	1854 Treaty of LaPointe. All Bands have a legal in-10
75	75	terest in protecting natural resources and the Forest 11
76	76	Service shares in the Federal trust responsibility to 12
77	77	maintain treaty resources. 13
78	78	(5) The Rainy River Watershed lies within the 14
79	79	Superior National Forest, which contains 20 percent 15
80	80	of the fresh water supply in the entire National For-16
81	81	est System. 17
82	82	(6) The Rainy River Watershed headwaters 18
83	83	begin in northeastern Minnesota and flow north 19
84	84	through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder-20
85	85	ness and Voyageurs National Park and into Canada 21
86	86	along the shared international border. These inter-22
87	87	national waters are governed by the 1909 Boundary 23
88	88	Waters Treaty, which states that ‘‘boundary waters 24
89	89	and the waters flowing across the boundary shall not 25
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92	92	•HR 588 IH
93	93	be polluted on either side to the injury of health or 1
94	94	property on the other’’. 2
95	95	(7) The waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe 3
96	96	Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park are 4
97	97	classified as Outstanding Resource Value Waters 5
98	98	under Federal and State law, and degradation of 6
99	99	water quality is prohibited. A risk of mining develop-7
100	100	ment is acid mine drainage which generally occurs 8
101	101	when sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water 9
102	102	creating sulfuric acid, which decreases water pH and 10
103	103	leaches harmful metals such as copper, zinc, lead, 11
104	104	cadmium, iron, and nickel. 12
105	105	(8) Acid mine runoff from sulfide-ore copper 13
106	106	mining entering groundwater, rivers, streams, and 14
107	107	lakes harms aquatic life, degrades water quality, and 15
108	108	results in potential severe environmental impacts. 16
109	109	(9) A peer-reviewed study of water quality im-17
110	110	pacts from 14 operating United States copper sul-18
111	111	fide mines found 100 percent of the mines experi-19
112	112	enced pipeline spills or accidental releases: 13 mines 20
113	113	experienced failures of water collection and treat-21
114	114	ment systems to control contaminated mine seepage 22
115	115	resulting in significant negative water quality im-23
116	116	pacts. 24
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119	119	•HR 588 IH
120	120	(10) The mining of copper and other metals in 1
121	121	sulfide bearing ore on Federal lands in the Superior 2
122	122	National Forest, within the Rainy River Watershed, 3
123	123	poses a direct and long-term threat from sulfide-ore 4
124	124	mining contamination to the pristine water and air 5
125	125	quality and healthy forested habitat of the Boundary 6
126	126	Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs Na-7
127	127	tional Park. 8
128	128	(11) The likely contamination of the air, water, 9
129	129	and forested habitat of the Boundary Waters Canoe 10
130	130	Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park from 11
131	131	the mining of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, 12
132	132	gold, and silver on Federal lands within the Rainy 13
133	133	River Watershed puts at risk— 14
134	134	(A) the nationally recognized natural re-15
135	135	sources of the area; and 16
136	136	(B) the region’s amenity-based and tour-17
137	137	ism industry, which if protected by a mineral 18
138	138	withdrawal, would grow by 1,500 to 4,600 more 19
139	139	jobs and $100,000,000 to $900,000,000 more 20
140	140	income over the next 20 years than if such min-21
141	141	ing were not banned. 22
142	142	(12) In 2016, the Forest Service issued a 23
143	143	Record of Decision which found ‘‘unacceptable the 24
144	144	inherent potential risk that development of a region-25
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147	147	•HR 588 IH
148	148	ally untested copper-nickel sulfide ore mine within 1
149	149	the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe 2
150	150	Area Wilderness might cause serious and irreplace-3
151	151	able harm to this unique, iconic, and irreplaceable 4
152	152	wilderness area’’. The Forest Service subsequently 5
153	153	proposed a 20-year mineral withdrawal of Federal 6
154	154	lands and waters in the Rainy River Watershed. 7
155	155	(13) In 2018, approximately 20 months into a 8
156	156	24-month review period of the Rainy River Water-9
157	157	shed mineral withdrawal proposal, the Department 10
158	158	of Agriculture abruptly canceled the withdrawal ap-11
159	159	plication and abandoned the Environmental Assess-12
160	160	ment. 13
161	161	(14) In 2021, the Forest Service reinitiated the 14
162	162	proposal for a mineral withdrawal of National For-15
163	163	est System lands located within the Rainy River Wa-16
164	164	tershed. A comprehensive Environmental Assessment 17
165	165	was completed in 2022, which provided extensive sci-18
166	166	entific analysis and public input in support of the 19
167	167	Service’s recommendation in favor of withdrawal. 20
168	168	(15) On January 26, 2023, the Secretary of the 21
169	169	Interior issued the decision to withdraw 225,504 22
170	170	acres of public land ‘‘to protect and preserve the 23
171	171	fragile and vital social and natural resources, eco-24
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174	174	•HR 588 IH
175	175	logical integrity, and wilderness values in the Rainy 1
176	176	River watershed’’ (Public Land Order 7917). 2
177	177	SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS AND 3
178	178	WATERS IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. 4
179	179	(a) D
180	180	EFINITION OFMAP.—In this Act, the term 5
181	181	‘‘Map’’ means the map attached to Public Land Order No. 6
182	182	7917 for Withdrawal of Federal Lands; Cook, Lake, and 7
183	183	Saint Louis Counties, MN and published in the Federal 8
184	184	Register dated January 31, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 6308). 9
185	185	(b) W
186	186	ITHDRAWAL.—Except as provided in subsection 10
187	187	(d) and subject to valid existing rights, the approximately 11
188	188	225,504 acres of Federal land and waters in the Rainy 12
189	189	River Watershed of the Superior National Forest in the 13
190	190	State of Minnesota, as located on the Map and described 14
191	191	in the Federal Register Notice, dated January 31, 2023 15
192	192	(88 Fed. Reg. 6308), are hereby withdrawn from— 16
193	193	(1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and dis-17
194	194	posal under the public land laws; 18
195	195	(2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 19
196	196	laws; and 20
197	197	(3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral 21
198	198	materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 22
199	199	(c) A
200	200	CQUIREDLAND.—Any land or interest in land 23
201	201	within the area depicted on the Map that is acquired by 24
202	202	the United States after the date of enactment of this Act 25
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205	205	•HR 588 IH
206	206	shall, on acquisition, be immediately withdrawn in accord-1
207	207	ance with this section. 2
208	208	(d) R
209	209	EMOVAL OFSAND, GRAVEL, GRANITE, IRON 3
210	210	O
211	211	RE, ANDTACONITE.—The Chief of the Forest Service 4
212	212	is authorized to permit the removal of sand, gravel, gran-5
213	213	ite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest system 6
214	214	lands within the area depicted on the Map if the Chief 7
215	215	determines that the removal is not detrimental to the 8
216	216	water quality, air quality, and health of the forest habitat 9
217	217	within the Rainy River Watershed. 10
218	218	(e) A
219	219	VAILABILITY OFMAP.—The Map shall be kept 11
220	220	on file and made available for public inspection in the ap-12
221	221	propriate offices of the Forest Service and the Bureau of 13
222	222	Land Management. 14
223	223	Æ
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