US House votes to overturn Minnesota mining ban, Senate to consider next

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

January 21, 2026 6:53 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to overturn former President Joe Biden's mining ban in northern Minnesota, giving a boost to Antofagasta's (ANTO.L), opens new tab Twin Metals copper, cobalt and nickel project.

The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration and, if approved there, to President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2024 on overturning Biden's 20-year block on mining across 225,504 minerals-rich acres (91,200 hectares) in the Superior National Forest. Reuters first reported earlier this month that Trump officials and legislators had launched a complex plan to reverse the ban using the novel claim that Biden had not properly informed Congress.

The Interior Department resubmitted the mining ban with the expectation that it would be rejected by Congress and Trump. Were that to occur, a future president could not replicate Biden's ban because of a provision in the 1996 Congressional Review Act (CRA).
The House voted 214 to 208 to overturn the ban, which was included in a measure sponsored by Congressman Pete Stauber, a Republican who represents northern Minnesota.

Conservationists have rejected the claim that Congress was not properly informed about Biden's move, noting it was detailed in federal publications and in letters to members of Congress. If the ban is lifted, the Trump administration would then be free to reissue mining leases to Chile-focused Antofagasta, which has been trying to develop the mine for decades on land controlled by the federal government. The mine would need to undergo an environmental review and obtain permits.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-house-votes-overturn-minnesota-mining-ban-senate-consider-next-2026-01-21/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. 'Yeah, boss, we better pollute them pansies into obliterate." /nt

[mysteryowl]

2. Friends of the Boundary Waters and many other organizations...

have been fighting for 50+ years to keep the Boundary Waters pristine. (Northern parts of Minnesota into Canada)
It is one of America's most beautiful natural places. Look at a map to see all the lakes and rivers and wilderness. They only way you can visit is by permit and to follow the rules during your visit.

The fight has been in courts many times.
If the repukes destroy the Boundary Waters, there is no coming back from that.

I had the privilege of canoeing this great wilderness once.
I will always remember being able to drink straight from the waters.
The profound silence.
The profound beauty of undisturbed wilderness.

It must be saved!!!!

[Bayard]

7. Would Canada have a say in this then,

If mining crap would pollute their side of the border?

trump can't pass up any minerals, no matter where they are.

[Lovie777]

3. Destroying mother earth piece by piece.............

[Lulu KC]

4. Nooooooo

Ouch ouch ouch

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. Well, maybe some pics of that massive hole in the ground they created from their previous mining.

It is outside of Virginia, MN. It is so massive, it looks like a natural formation, except it is plainly not.

But, who cares about the people living there, right? Lets just ruin their ability to survive in that area because some foreign corporation wants to make a few millions more by exploitation rather than facing the fact that their industry is on the way out and they refuse to change.

I mean, the rest of the country doesn't live there, so they don't mind the irreversible destruction in the name of a few dollars, right?

[waterwatcher123]

6. Our waste of oxygen, Congressman Stauber, claim to fame is to mine one of the last great wilderness areas.

This company wants to mine under Birch Lake. As such, one small mistake in fracturing the bedrock will dump the contents of this lake into the mine shaft. The mine waste in the mine-shaft will weather and produce sulfate laden water that will likely be discharged into the St. Louis River Watershed and eventually into Lake Superior. The proponents of this mine have claimed for years that they can contain this mine wastewater. However, evaporation does not exceed precipitation in northern MN (part of the reason there are lakes and wetlands in the first place). So, this sulfate laden water will eventually get to the point where it will either overflow, seep out or they will have to discharge it into a river. This acidic acid drainage will damage wild rice and the fishery of the St. Louis River, and eventually flow into Lake Superior.

There is already a 50 mile long scar from mining in Northern Minnesota. It is larger than the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and is full of mine shafts and pits. It has so screwed up the hydrology of rivers and lakes that some rivers only exist due to regular pumping of groundwater from mine pits (I know this from having worked on watershed models of this region for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency).

https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=maps.lakedetail&locid=2025&zoom=14&size=500&locname=Birch%20Lake