February 10, 2026
Protect the Boundary Waters From Climate-Wrecking Mines
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) is one of America’s greatest wild places — an interconnected maze of lakes, rivers, forests, and wildlife that purifies water, stores carbon, and anchors a thriving outdoor economy.
But extremist proposals in Congress now threaten to tear down the walls that have protected this place by undoing decades-old safeguards and opening the watershed to toxic mining. The Senate could vote this week on a bill that paves the way for copper mining near Minnesota’s 1.1‑million‑acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
If the Senate allows this rollback and green-lights mining, the consequences won’t stop at water pollution — they would make the climate crisis worse.
Industrial mining is extremely energy-intensive, especially for low-grade copper and nickel ore like that near the BWCA. Studies show that proposed mines in the region could produce hundreds of thousands to over a million tons of additional carbon emissions every year — the same as adding tens of thousands of passenger cars to the road — driving climate change when we should be cutting emissions.
At the same time, the Boundary Waters region itself is a frontline of the climate crisis. Warming waters and shifting ecosystems threaten cold-water fish like lake trout and the interconnected food web that supports them. Boreal forests here act as vital carbon sinks, locking carbon deep in soils and vegetation — a function we must protect, not destroy.
The science is clear: there is no safe way to mine here without risking irreversible toxic pollution and undermining climate solutions. Sacrificing one of our nation’s ecological treasures for short-term industrial gain is not only reckless — it deepens the climate harm communities nationwide are already facing.
The Senate will likely vote this week. Senators must stand with clean water, climate stability, and future generations.
Thank you for all that you do,
Mitch w/ Tipping Point
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