A Sportsman's View: Protect BWCAW from copper-nickel mining - Duluth News Tribune

Gladly, federal agencies recently said “no” to Twin Metals’ potential sulfide mine by not renewing expired mineral leases on the edge of the wilderness (“Feds take back mineral leases from Twin Metals,” Dec. 16).

Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement, “This is the right action to take to avoid irrevocably damaging this watershed and its recreation-based economy.”

For good reason. This type of mining is often called the most toxic industry in America, as was explained in April in the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin by National Wildlife Federation President Collin O’Mara and Ted Roosevelt IV, the great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt. They said every single sulfide-ore mining operation in the nation has, at some point, discharged acid mine drainage pollution into adjacent waters or lands, damaging wildlife, waterways, wetlands, forests and local communities.

Not surprisingly, a study of 14 modern copper mines in the U.S., representing 89 percent of U.S. copper production, found that all of them contaminated nearby waters. And the impacts of acid mine drainage on watersheds clearly was demonstrated during August 2015 when the Animas River in Colorado turned orange from the Gold King Mine spill.

Further, in November, at the Berkeley Pit in Montana — a former sulfide mine filled with acidic, metal-laden water, now federally managed as a Superfund site — some 10,000 geese set down, resulting in thousands of bird deaths. Residents in Butte, Mont., found carcasses in a Wal-Mart parking lot, on roadsides and outside the city, according to the Washington Post.

Wisely, during March 2016, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton expressed “strong opposition to mining in close proximity to the BWCAW.” He was acting on the wishes of his constituents. Polling earlier by ALG Research found that 61 percent of those questioned who live in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District — which includes the Iron Range and Duluth — opposed mines near the wilderness.

Sportsmen also have expressed strong opposition to proposed sulfide mines. Land Tawney, the president and CEO of my Backcountry Hunters & Anglers group, said, “The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is one of the most iconic fishing and hunting destinations in America. The recent decision by the Forest Service to block mining leases that would endanger the Boundary Waters watershed deserves praise not only from Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and (our) Minnesota chapter in particular, but from sportsmen and women from all across the country.”

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association, American Sportfishing Association, International Federation of Fly Fishers, Izaak Walton League of America, National Wildlife Federation, Orion-The Hunter’s Institute, Pope & Young Club, Ely Outfitting Co. & Boundary Waters Guide Service, French River Muzzleloaders, Full Curl Brand, GreenHead Productions, Hungry Jack Outfitters, Modern Carnivore, Northstar Canoes, Piragis Northwoods Company, Rapala, Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, the Upper Midwest Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers and many more have expressed opposition to sulfide mines near the BWCAW.

Indeed, this past summer, more than 74,000 people and 200 sportsmen’s organizations, businesses, and conservation groups sent letters expressing opposition to renewing the expired Twin Metals leases. Darrell Spencer, a sportsman and Duluth resident, said in a press release from the Wilderness Society, “If allowed, sulfide-ore copper mining development in the watershed of the BWCAW would inevitably pollute surrounding lakes’ groundwater and downstream waters in the BWCAW. The development of a mine would taint the quality and reputation of the BWCAW as a hunting and fishing paradise.”

David Lien of Colorado Springs, Colo., and formerly of Grand Rapids, is a former Air Force officer, co-chairman of the Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (backcountryhunters. org), and the author of “Hunting for Experience II: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation.”

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For additional information in support of the writer’s viewpoint, he suggests: sportsmenfortheboundarywaters.org/