Walz signs executive order banning nonferrous mining near Boundary Waters

Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Tuesday, Aug. 18, banning nonferrous mining in the Rainy River Watershed, which is the site of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness — handing environmentalists a significant victory they’ve sought for years.

Walz will give a mid-morning address Tuesday to discuss his climate and environmental record at a state park.

Walz is instructing the Department of Natural Resources not to grant permits to mine in the watershed. This move bears a strong risk of litigation from mining interests in defense of a project of Twin Metals — a subsidiary of the Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta — which wants to extract copper, nickel, cobalt and other valuable metals from underground veins near Ely and Babbitt, about a dozen miles from the wilderness area.

“It’s our duty as Minnesotans to ensure the sacred place remains wild, pristine, and unharmed,” Walz said in a statement. The sanctity of the Boundary Waters has special meaning for Walz — his brother died there on a 2016 camping trip.

Walz is also instructing DNR to closely scrutinize any state nonferrous mineral leases in the watershed. Late last year, MPR reported, the agency approved mineral exploration by a subsidiary of Twin Metals on the north and south sides of Birch Lake, just south of its planned mining facility, for two years.

With a Walz-directed priority on conservation over extraction near the Boundary Waters, the mineral leases may be imperiled.

Opponents argue environmental degradation would lead to economic disaster for a region with a growing tourism economy, which relies on waters so pure that some people drink right out of the lakes, known as “dipping.”

“The science is clear: copper mining and the Boundary Waters cannot safely coexist. This action helps safeguard the clean water, world-class wilderness, and outdoor economy that generations of Minnesotans cherish,” said Becky Rom, Save the Boundary Waters National Chair, in a statement.

The mining industry and the building trades unions argue new mining would reduce Northeast Minnesota’s economic dependence on volatile global markets for iron and steel. Its rich deposits of higher-value metals, along with gases like helium and possibly hydrogen, could offer a lifeline.

The Twin Metals proposal has featured one of the most intense, oscillating environmental conflicts in recent state history, extending all the way to Washington and back.

Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber — a Republican who represents the 8th District, which includes the protected wilderness — shepherded a bill through Congress to end President Joe Biden’s 20-year federal moratorium on mining leases across more than 225,000 acres of Superior National Forest near the BWCAW, which was visited by nearly 150,000 people in 2024.

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, spoke at length on the Senate floor before the vote: “I dearly hope the members of this body will think about their legacy in protecting the great places in this country.”

Stauber is likely to lead the charge against Walz’s prohibition, and mining interests have strong allies in the White House, which is also sure to engage.

Among Walz’s backers, building trades have advocated for nonferrous mining in northeast Minnesota given the promise of high-paying work, and will face a rare moment of opposing Walz, who has long maintained good relations with labor.

As an executive order instead of a law, Walz’s move has less force, especially since it can be overturned by a future governor, with a simple signature. But no Democrat is likely to reverse it, given the Boundary Waters’ central place in Minnesota’s collective imagination. This is reflected in voters’ support — by a wide margin — for prohibiting mining near the Boundary Waters.

Walz is also directing DNR to draft legislation to permanently prohibit nonferrous mining in the watershed for consideration in the agency’s budget and policy proposals for the Legislature.

This is a developing story.

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