1. THREAD. Yesterday, Friends of the BWCAW filed a suit against the federal government. The lawsuit challenges the administration’s arbitrary decision to put the interests of a foreign-owned mining conglomerate over the Boundary Waters. Here’s the scoop.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
2. SOME BACKGROUND: For several years, Twin Metals has been trying to open a sulfide-ore mine at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
3. Sulfide-ore mining is new to Minnesota. It is a very different type of mining than traditional iron ore mining, and carries grave and different risks from iron-ore mining.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
4. Sulfide-ore mining carries huge environmental risks. It has led to contaminated drinking water, polluted lakes and rivers and long-term damage to entire ecosystems. The risk doesn’t end when the mine closes. Taxpayers would be left to foot the clean-up bill.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
5. Mining companies have been unable to point to a sulfide-ore mine that did not cause environmental harm. If opened on the BWCAW watershed, the Twin Metals mine could cause irreversible damage to the most visited wilderness area in the U.S.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
6. You can see why this mine might raise some eyebrows. An entire wilderness economy has been built around the BWCAW.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
7. INTO THE FRAY. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Chilean-owned mining giant Antofagasta, and its affiliates hold the leases for the lands they want to mine.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
8. But if you’re a foreign company and want to use public lands to open a mine, there’s process you need to follow. You don’t just get a rubber stamp. This shouldn’t be controversial.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
9. The 20-year land leases Twin Metals holds were drawn up in 1966. The leases were renewed in 1989 and 2004. They applied for a third renewal in 2012.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
10. But the plain language of the leases didn’t entitle Twin Metals to a renewal, and the Forest Service had to consent before any renewal.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
11. In an extensive study, the Forest Service concluded the potential risk posed by a copper-nickel sulfide ore mine within the same watershed as the BWCAW was unacceptable as it might cause irreparable harm to a unique, iconic and irreplaceable wilderness area.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
12. Because the Forest Service did not consent, Twin Metals’ application was denied and the leases expired.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
13. The BWCAW was safe. For a time, the thousands of people whose lives have been touched and transformed by this wilderness could breathed easy.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
14. Then the 2016 elections happened. Under new leadership, the Department of the Interior ignored the contractual language and concluded in a highly flawed manner that Twin Metals was entitled—without further governmental review—to essentially an automatic renewal of its leases.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
15. This conclusion was based on a torturous reading of the law and flat out ignored the fact that the Forest Service did not consent to lease renewal because of the danger to the BWCAW. The government had no power to resurrect the leases it had already decided would expire.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
16. Such an arbitrary, capricious handling of the law was done to serve the shareholders of a foreign-owned Chilean mining company, not the people who own the land. That is, the people of the United States.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
17. The expired leases were resurrected, making some billionaires in Chile very happy.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
18. Should the government be able to bend our laws so they bow to foreign interests to the detriment of generations of Americans?
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018
19. The lawsuit filed by the Friends is about protecting our wilderness areas and it’s about upholding the dignity of the law.
— Friends of the BWCAW (@FriendsBWCAW) June 26, 2018