By Ernest Scheyder
Jan 8 (Reuters) – The Trump administration and U.S. Congress are launching a plan this week to overturn former President Joe Biden’s mining ban in northern Minnesota and prevent future administrations from taking similar steps, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters.
The move has been in development for much of the past year and involves a complex series of legislative steps that will benefit Antofagasta’s Twin Metals copper, cobalt and nickel project, one of North America’s largest untapped reserves of those critical minerals.
Details of the plan have not previously been reported.
It marks a refocus of sorts by Trump on U.S. domestic mining projects, even as his administration continues to angle for access to minerals in Greenland, Ukraine and elsewhere.
The Minnesota plan is almost certain to further escalate tension over where and how to procure minerals crucial for the electrified economy and national defense. Copper, nickel and cobalt are used to build electric vehicles, AI data centers, wind turbines, weaponry and myriad other devices.
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OMISSION
Biden in 2023 blocked mining on 225,504 acres in the Superior National Forest for 20 years, citing environmental concerns and a belief that the region’s economy would benefit more from recreational activity than mining.
The mining ban was filed in the Federal Register, which tracks actions by the executive branch, but not the Congressional Record, which tracks legislative moves and serves as an official notice to Congress.
Under a 1976 law known as the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, a president is required to notify Congress of public land orders that affect more than 5,000 acres.
Because Biden did not file the notice in the Congressional Record, Trump’s Interior Department is doing so now with the expectation that it will be rejected by Congress.
The U.S. House of Representatives was informed earlier this week by the Interior Department. The notice was then sent to Vice President JD Vance, who is head of the U.S. Senate, and is under review by the U.S. Senate parliamentarian.
If approved by the parliamentarian, which is expected by Friday, Congress would have 60 days to approve or reject the plan with a simple majority. That vote would not be subject to a filibuster.
Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber, a Republican who represents northern Minnesota, plans by Friday to introduce legislation aiming to reject the mining ban. If Congress and Trump approve, which is expected in the Republican-controlled body, a future president could not replicate Biden’s ban because of a provision in the 1996 Congressional Review Act.
MINING LEASES COULD BE REISSUED
The complex legislative plan came together after efforts failed to include the measure in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law last July, congressional staffers said.
“We have industries here in our country that need these critical minerals. We must never rely on foreign adversaries like China for supply,” Stauber, who is also chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, told Reuters.
The White House was not immediately available to comment.
If the mining ban is lifted, the Trump administration would then be free to reissue mining leases for Chile-based Antofagasta, which has been trying to develop the mine for decades on land controlled by the federal government. The mine would still need to undergo an environmental review and obtain permits.
Stauber said he has been told by the Trump administration that it is working on reissuing the leases, but he did not have additional details.
Antofagasta’s Twin Metals unit said it expects to get the leases back in the near future but deferred comment on efforts to overturn the mining ban until legislation is introduced.
The leases themselves have been a political hot potato since first issued in 1996, with former President Barack Obama canceling them, before Trump reinstated them in his first term, only to have Biden cancel them yet again.
No mining has taken place at the site.
TENSIONS BETWEEN MINING, OUTDOOR RECREATION
The underground Twin Metals mine would, if built, be a major U.S. source of copper, cobalt and nickel. The only existing U.S. nickel mine is set to close later this decade.
The region is visited each year by more than 150,000 outdoor enthusiasts, many of whom have long feared that any mine disaster could pollute rivers and quickly spread through the 1.1 million acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and into the Great Lakes.
Antofagasta has long said it would use the most advanced equipment to protect the environment.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Veronica Brown and Nia Williams)
Comments