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(Emily Larsen, Liberty Headlines) Following mining pushback from environmental groups and hasty actions in the final weeks of the Obama administration, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) introduced the Minnesota Economic Rights (MINER) in the Superior National Forests Act, which aims to restore mineral rights in attempt to boost the economy in the northern part of his state.
Tom Emmer/IMAGE: YouTube
The bill is a response to ongoing controversy regarding mining lease applications near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, close to the border of Canada. About 250,000 outdoor enthusiasts visit the 1.1 million-acre wilderness area each year.
“In their final hours, the Obama Administration enacted a series of harmful and reckless policies, which have hindered our ability to utilize our state’s abundance of natural resources and bring jobs to a part of our state that badly needs them,” said Emmer in a press release.
One of the final actions of the Obama administration in December was to reject a company’s request to renew a mining lease next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and placed a two-year mining ban on 234,000 acres of public land. The MINER Act would require approval from Congress to prohibit mining on federal lands.
“The Boundary Waters is a natural treasure, special to the 150,000 who canoe, fish, and recreate there each year, and is the economic life blood to local business that depend on a pristine natural resource,” said former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in a joint statement at the time of the denial. “I have asked Interior to take a time out, conduct a careful environmental analysis and engage the public