Sponsors (38)
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Betty McCollum · Last progress January 21, 2025
The bill prioritizes long-term protection of 225,504 acres and adjacent waters—safeguarding water quality, recreation, and tribal treaty uses and supporting tourism—at the cost of foreclosing some mineral-development and other commercial opportunities, reducing local economic flexibility and creating potential regulatory and litigation burdens.
Residents, visitors, and regional businesses: 225,504 acres in the Rainy River watershed (including BWCAW-adjacent lands and Voyageurs-area waters) are withdrawn from most sulfide-ore mining and land disposal, preserving forest and water quality that supports recreation and drinking-water protections.
Rural communities and tourism-dependent workers/businesses: Protecting these federal lands helps sustain amenity-based tourism and recreation-related jobs and income (estimated roughly 1,500–4,600 jobs and $100M–$900M over 20 years if resources remain intact).
Tribal communities (Grand Portage, Fond du Lac, Bois Forte): Stronger protection against contamination risks helps safeguard treaty-based hunting, fishing, and usufructuary rights and associated cultural resources.
Rural communities, potential workers, and regional taxpayers: Withdrawing 225,504 acres from mineral development and land disposal prevents potential sulfide-ore mining and other resource-extraction projects, limiting possible jobs, private investment, lease revenue, and local tax receipts tied to those activities.
Small business owners and land users: Restrictions could block or limit certain commercial uses, land disposals, and development opportunities on the withdrawn acres, producing opportunity costs for businesses and private land interests.
Local governments and rural communities: A long (20+-year) withdrawal reduces future local flexibility to pursue different land-use or resource-development strategies, constraining local economic planning.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Withdraws about 225,504 acres in the Rainy River Watershed from mining, mineral leasing, and most public-land disposals, while allowing limited aggregate and certain ore removal if shown not to harm water, air, or forest health.
Withdraws about 225,504 acres of federal land and water in the Rainy River Watershed of the Superior National Forest from mining, mineral leasing, and most public-land disposal and appropriation uses. The withdrawal protects water, air, forest habitat, treaty-protected harvesting rights, and recreational tourism values, while allowing limited removal of sand, gravel, granite, iron ore, and taconite if the Forest Service finds such removal will not harm water quality, air quality, or forest health.