Controversial Twin Metals mine project could get second life after key congressional OK

WASHINGTON – A budget bill that gives new life to a contested copper-nickel mine that could bring hundreds of jobs to northeastern Minnesota received a key congressional approval.

The budget package, passed along mostly party lines in the House Natural Resources Committee shortly before midnight Tuesday, aims to draw over $18 billion in revenue from oil and gas permitting and advancing a range of smaller projects, including restoring the mineral leases in the Superior National Forest canceled by the Biden administration.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Rep. Pete Stauber, the Republican who represents northern Minnesota and authored language to kick-start the Twin Metals mines in St. Louis County, said charges from environmentalists that the bill’s passage would violate bedrock protections were unfounded.

“We’re going to be responsibly unleashing America’s natural resources, which will generate equitable returns for the American people through royalty, rental and auction fees that are bound for the U.S. Treasury,” Stauber said.

There was little back and forth on the committee during the day-long session as Republicans largely avoided responding to Democrats’ critique of the bill.

Democrats brought two amendments to block Stauber’s provision. But both failed.

“The Boundary Waters in northeastern Minnesota is a pristine wilderness,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, the committee’s highest ranking Democrat, who represents northwestern California. He noted the bill would return the leases to Twin Metals with “essentially no permitting, no public review and no judicial review.”

“This is a ripoff for the American people,” Huffman said.

Environmentalists say the Twin Metals project — a copper-nickel facility planned for south of Ely in the Rainy River watershed — would pollute downstream waters, including the relatively undisturbed Boundary Waters.

Mining interests and proponents in northeastern Minnesota say the project, which was all but shut down by the Biden administration, would drive at least 750 long-term jobs for the economically strapped region.

“This legislation doesn’t guarantee mining projects start today,” said a statement for Jobs for Minnesotans, a group supportive of expanding mining in the region. “But it ensures that businesses that can prove they will meet and exceed environmental standards have a fair shot in the future.”

Twin Metals Minnesota, which is a subsidiary of Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, did not comment on the vote. But reinstating federal leases is not the only hurdle the company will face to start retrieving metals from its underground site.

Pete Marshall, communications director for Friends of the Boundary Waters, an environmental group opposed to the mine, called it a “dream scenario” for Twin Metals on a federal level.

But, Marshall said, Twin Metals would likely still need permits or review from the state of Minnesota.

The next steps are unclear. Congress is likely to craft a full budget bill through a reconciliation process that could work around any potential filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

At first blush, critics say it’s not clear how opening up drilling in Alaska or selling public lands in Utah — two other provisions in the committee’s bill — would alleviate the national debt, which is estimated at over $36 trillion.

But Douglas Elmendorf, a Harvard University Kennedy School of Government professor of public policy, said a budget can pass through reconciliation so long as it doesn’t worsen the long-term budgetary forecast.

“[Budget reconciliation] can be used for things that are having notable budgetary effects,” said Elmendorf, who also served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2009 to 2015. “For this committee, what they do is a large number of small things.”