Judge tosses Twin Metals' lawsuit against Biden administration to regain mine leases near BWCAW
WASHINGTON -- Twin Metals' lawsuit against the Biden administration to seek the reinstatement of federal mineral rights leases near the Boundary Waters has been dismissed.
According to a court document obtained by WCCO, a judge for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Wednesday.
Twin Metals Minnesota shared a statement with WCCO on Thursday:
"Twin Metals Minnesota is disappointed by the opinion issued today regarding a lawsuit the company brought in U.S. District Court on August 22, 2022, and we are working to determine next steps. We remain committed to the communities of northeast Minnesota - as we have been for more than a decade - and to supplying the minerals required for the energy transition."
The developers of a proposed copper-nickel mine upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness alleged in its lawsuit, filed last year in federal court in Washington, that the Department of the Interior acted illegally when it canceled the leases. The company asked the court to declare that those leases remain valid and in force, so that it can proceed with the environmental review and permitting process.
The proposed underground mine in northern Minnesota, southeast of Ely near Birch Lake, is struggling to survive amid shifting political winds. The Obama administration, in its final weeks, chose not to renew the two leases, which had dated back more than 50 years. The Trump administration reversed that decision and reinstated the leases. But the Biden administration later canceled the leases after reviving a potential 20-year mining moratorium in that area that the Obama administration tried to launch.
After the change in administrations in 2021, the lawsuit alleged, Interior officials "exacted a tightly coordinated set of unlawful actions" that culminated in the loss of Twin Metals' leases." This coordinated campaign constituted nothing less than an unlawful attempt to rewrite the policy choices that Congress has made about the proper balance between environmental concerns and the availability of mining on public lands," the lawsuit says.
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The moratorium proposal would "withdraw" 352 square miles within the Rainy River watershed in the Superior National Forest from new mineral leasing for 20 years. That threatens to doom Twin Metals.
The U.S. Forest Service issued a draft environmental assessment in June to lay the foundation for the moratorium, saying it aimed "to prevent further negative environmental impacts from future mining operations." The public comment period closed Aug. 12. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will make the final decision.
Environmental groups have been fighting Twin Metals for years, saying the risk of acid mine drainage poses an unacceptable threat to the country's most-visited federally designated wilderness area.
Twin Metals, owned by the Chilean mining company Antofagasta, contended in the lawsuit that its underground design and other features would prevent acid formation by limiting the exposure of the sulfide-bearing ore to the effects of air and water. It was in the early stages of seeking state permits when the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shut down its own environmental review process, citing the company's loss of its federal leases.
NOTE: Video is from Aug. 22, 2022, reporting the initial lawsuit.