Tim Walz treads lightly on mining in resource-rich Minnesota

Environmentalists have heralded Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as a climate champion.

But some have raised concerns about Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate’s record on mining. They say his administration hasn’t taken steps to halt mining development, even near watersheds that conservationists and tribes say should be protected.

During a rally in Michigan last Wednesday, Walz highlighted his conservation bona fides, describing it as a value that unites Great Lakes states.

“I gotta tell you something else we share, is a care for the incredible natural resources,” he said. “We in the upper Midwest, in our states, we care for 20 percent of the world’s fresh water in those Great Lakes.”

When it comes to mining for minerals such as copper and nickel, Walz has walked a tightrope with President Joe Biden and other Democrats: wanting to protect the environment while promoting economic development and securing resources necessary for the energy transition — without relying on imports from countries such as China. That tension is magnified in Minnesota, which federal scientists say has the largest untapped deposits of nickel and copper on the planet.

Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, said he supports Walz, who has pushed through clean energy mandates and boosted electric vehicles. But Knopf noted that the governor has stayed out of bigger fights involving sulfide mining.

Critics fear that the mines proposed in northern Minnesota that would tap into sulfide ore containing metals such as copper and nickel would release sulfuric acid and heavy metals into wetlands and rivers. That runoff, they argue, could then leach into waterways flowing into Lake Superior or the Boundary Waters, a pristine area near the Canadian border. Mining companies counter that state studies show measures can be taken to protect the environment during mining and after closure.

“On many issues, he’s been very strong for the environment, but on this one, he’s been on the sidelines,” said Knopf. “That’s sort of the political calculus that Governor Walz is making there … to not really address the issue as a way of maintaining the political coalition.”

In his state, Walz has been able to secure support from many across the mining divide. In northern Minnesota’s Iron Range —where for decades companies have dug for iron ore used to make steel — miners, unions and environmental groups all see Walz as an ally. He’s maintained those complicated ties even as mining shifted, with companies vying to dig for metals essential to making EVs, wind turbines and other technology.

Emil Ramirez, the United Steelworkers international vice president, said Walz spoke at the union’s mining conference in Minneapolis two weeks ago, telling workers the state can lead in sustainable mining. He vowed to help expand mining in the state while ensuring the permitting regime works.

“We had a great discussion with him about the future of mining in Minnesota, making sure the permitting process is followed, [and that] we can continue to grow mining in the state,” Ramirez said.

While Walz’s office and the Harris campaign did not respond to requests for comment, the governor has repeatedly said he’s focused on following the law and seeing permitting play out. Strengthening Minnesota’s permitting regime has to happen through the legislative — not executive — process, he’s emphasized.

“I do support responsible usage of minerals, especially ones that will lead us to a clean energy economy,” Walz told the news site MinnPost in 2019. “But I take each one of these as an individual and I do think you have to do the risk analysis on if it can be done.”

The projects on the table for northern Minnesota are of particular concern to tribes like the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. They have warned that pollutants could seep into wetlands and waterways, damaging wild rice crops. A dietary staple, wild rice plays a central role in the migration story of the Anishinaabe people of modern-day Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota and Montana. E&E News reached out to seven Anishinaabe reservations, including the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and four Dakota communities in Minnesota, but received no comment on Walz’s mining or environmental record.

Knopf wants the Legislature to take up a bill to require foreign mining companies to show where sulfide mining has been done safely in the U.S. before moving forward in Minnesota. But he said Democrats have been reluctant to hold hearings.

While applauding Walz’s overall work on climate and energy, Kathryn Hoffman, CEO of Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said she was disappointed state agencies under the governor’s leadership defended permits for one mine — the proposed NorthMet open-pit copper and nickel mine — in court. Hoffman noted that the DNR approved permits for the mine in late 2018, before Walz took office, but his administration continued to defend them.

“I wish that the governor’s agencies had recognized the significant problems with the [NorthMet] permits and rather than defend them in court, I wish they had taken those permits back to rethink and improve them,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said she hopes that being on the national stage — far from the state pressure to mine — will allow Walz to look at the issue more holistically and push for stronger regulations for proposed mines, as well as a greater emphasis on mineral recycling.

Defending the Boundary Waters

Over the years, Walz has shared his personal connections to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, a vast wilderness that covers more than 1 million acres, includes more than 1,000 lakes and spans 150 miles along the U.S.-Canada border.

Fresh off clinching his gubernatorial post in 2019, Walz shared with reporters at an annual DNR gathering that he hunts, fishes, hikes and paddles in that part of the Superior National Forest.

It’s also where his brother Craig was killed by a falling tree during a storm in 2016, an accident that left other family members injured. The area is “sacred to our family,” Walz said.

Ingrid Lyons, executive director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, said Walz recognizes that the Boundary Waters and its watershed is the “crown jewel of our state” and has defended it from mining.

“Under his leadership, relevant agencies have followed the processes and laws, advancing state-level protections for the Wilderness, which have reinforced that America’s most toxic industry does not belong in the headwaters of its most visited Wilderness area,” said Lyons.

Libby London, a spokesperson for the Boundary Waters campaign, said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources under Walz protected the area, including suspending an environmental review of the proposed Twin Metals copper and nickel mine — which would be located about five miles away — after the Biden administration canceled two federal mineral leases for the project. The state also rejected the use of state land for disposing of tailings, said London.

The state acted after the Biden administration stepped in, most dramatically when Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last year signed an order withdrawing more than 220,000 acres in the Superior National Forest, protecting the area for 20 years from mining or other development. That move, which effectively halted the Twin Metals project, likely wouldn’t have occurred if Walz had actively opposed it, London argued.

While environmentalists celebrated the move, many in Iron Range towns — which have seen their historic mining industry decline — chafed at the federal interference.

Former President Donald Trump, who’s campaigned in the region twice since May, has identified it as a potent line of attack against Harris. During a campaign rally late last month in St. Cloud, Trump vowed to open the Iron Range to mining by reversing the Biden administration’s 20-year mining ban.

“We will end that ban, in about, what do you think, in about 10 minutes, I would say about 10 to 15 minutes, right Pete,” Trump said from the podium, with a nod to Republican Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, who attended the rally.

Stauber, whose congressional district is home to the Twin Metals project, has led legislative efforts to reverse the withdrawal on Capitol Hill. In a statement, the congressman said there’s no evidence that the governor is “pro-mining.”

“He has stood silent on the Biden-Harris anti-mining, anti-energy policies. He embraces unnecessary and duplicative review processes for major projects and supports economically devastating California-style energy mandates,” said Stauber. “He supports the Biden-Harris anti-mining agenda that is ‘Anywhere but America, Any worker but American.’”

Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign, blasted Walz for supporting the Biden administration’s mining withdrawal.

“Tim Walz is a rubber stamp for Kamala Harris and has supported the same dangerously liberal policies including endorsing the Green New Scam, banning fracking, and killing good paying energy jobs,” she said.

Support from miners, unions

Mining companies and the unions that represent their workers don’t see Walz as a mine killer.

The Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, under Walz’s leadership is continuing to defend in court permits for the proposed NorthMet copper, nickel and precious metal mine, which would be built on the grounds of a tapped iron mine. Gail Nosek, a spokesperson for the agency, said the DNR “does not advocate for or against projects,” but “when we make regulatory decisions, if challenged, we do defend them.”

Green groups have argued the state’s rules for siting copper, nickel, zinc, gold, and silver mines are too weak to protect the Boundary Waters. But the DNR in court said the regulations are largely protective, and rejected the groups’ request toban sulfide mining in the Rainy River Headwaters watershed, which is part of the Boundary Waters. Nosek with the DNR said the agency doesn’t have the authority to enact a ban, which would require the Legislature to step in.

Most recently, the agency approved exploration on state land about 10 miles from the Boundary Waters. Nosek with the DNR said the agency can’t outright reject an exploration plan where there’s an active and valid minerals lease in place.

Julie Lucas, executive director of MiningMinnesota, the official trade association representing major mining projects like Twin Metals, NorthMet and Pulsar Helium, a company hunting for helium in northeastern Minnesota, said the Walz is “pragmatic.”

“He rises above the politics of it and understands you can’t build out clean energy without the minerals,” said Lucas. “He recognizes the U.S relies on foreign countries like China for a lot of those minerals. He wants to see the climate goals met with clean energy technologies and he knows that requires raw materials.”

Todd Malan, chief external affairs officer for Talon, said Walz has focused on the rigorous, science based permitting system that fully considers potential negative impacts of mining and potential mitigation of those impacts. Malan said Walz has also recognized the positive economic impacts of mining and potential for good paying union jobs, and should be credited for ensuring that tribal sovereign governments have a full seat at the table in the permitting process from the beginning of the process.

“Governor Walz has demonstrated a sensible approach to permitting that includes consideration of multiple important factors. Mining opponents that disregard and demean considerations of job creation, current dependence on China for minerals like nickel, new ways to prevent environmental impacts and are just focused on preempting the science based permitting process make a strategic mistake,” said Malan. “Walz isn’t interested in culture wars when important issues are at stake.”

Last year, Malan traveled to Australia with Walz as part of an eight-day trade mission to promote Minnesota business along with representatives from renewable energy groups and indigenous businesses.

Ramirez, with the United Steelworkers, said Walz has consistently supported the mining sector in Minnesota, noting that all mines in the state are union shops.

The union has neutrality agreements with projects going through the permitting process — including Talon Metal Co.’s Tamarack nickel and copper project and the NorthMet mine — that have agreed to work with the United Steelworkers upon completion, Ramirez said.

As for Trump’s insistence that he’ll bring the Iron Range “roaring back to life,” Ramirez said Walz is already getting the job done.

“I think it’s a play that Trump probably uses, but I don’t see anything at all about Gov. Walz ever wavering from his support for our miners,” said Ramirez. “He’s been to the Iron Range numerous times, to our union halls, at rallies, and has always shown his support for the miners on the Iron Range.”