Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:27:03 +0000
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by Elena Vance -

Senate 50-49 Votes to Overturn 2023 Mining Withdrawal Near Boundary Waters, Sends Measure to President

Washington — The Senate voted 50-49 on April 16 to approve a resolution that would overturn a mining ban near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters and sent the measure to the president for signature.

The resolution invokes the Congressional Review Act to nullify a 2023 mineral-withdrawal that had prohibited mineral leasing across roughly 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The U.S. House of Representatives previously passed the identical resolution, H.J.Res. 140, in January, and that earlier House vote moved the measure to the Senate where it was finalized on Thursday.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a large, federally designated wilderness in northeastern Minnesota; the 2023 withdrawal covered roughly 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest upstream of the BWCAW watershed. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) described the Boundary Waters as a place of “mist over meadows” and “sunlight on leaves.”