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RELEASE: BREAKING: Win for the Boundary Waters. Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness wins lawsuit against Twin Metals

September 7, 2023

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Libby London Communications Director Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters  libby@savetheboundarywaters.org | 612-227-8407

(Ely, MN)– Today, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW), the lead organization in the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, ten area businesses, and four conservation groups prevailed in the lawsuit in which the groups and businesses had intervened on the side of the United States government. Antofagasta’s subsidiaries Twin Metals Minnesota and Franconia filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in August 2022. The lawsuit sought to force the renewal of federal mineral leases next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which had been illegally renewed during the Trump Administration.

“This is a great day for the Boundary Waters,” said Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. “Twin Metals tried to force renewal of terminated federal mining leases next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The United States government followed the rule of law and moved to dismiss this unlawful lawsuit. We are one step closer to permanent protection for the Boundary Waters watershed.”

Today’s ruling was issued by Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

A vast collection of peer-reviewed science shows that if a Twin Metals mine was built along the rivers and streams flowing into the Wilderness, pollution and environmental degradation would be certain. A peer-reviewed independent study from Harvard University showed that protection of the Boundary Waters from the proposed sulfide-ore mine would result in dramatically more jobs and more income over a 20-year period. Nearly 70 percent of Minnesotans support permanent protection for this priceless Wilderness area.

 

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