Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order blocking mining permits near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a move Republicans say undermines federal law, kills union jobs, and strengthens China's grip on critical minerals.
Walz's order halts state agencies from reviewing or processing permits for proposed mining projects in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed in northeast Minnesota, home to the Duluth Complex, the largest known untapped source of nickel and copper in North America. The order also directs the state Department of Natural Resources to draft legislation that would ban nonferrous mining in the watershed permanently and prevents Minnesota from participating as a cooperating agency in any federal environmental review of such mining.
The governor acted just months after Congress voted 50, 49 to repeal a Biden-era order that had blocked new mining leases near the Boundary Waters for 20 years. President Trump signed that legislation into law in April after it cleared both the House and Senate, led by Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn. Walz's executive order amounts to a state-level end run around the federal action.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Walz's office for comment. No response was noted as of publication.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress, called the executive order both reckless and dangerous. Emmer framed the dispute not as environment versus industry but as American self-reliance versus dependence on hostile foreign powers.
In an interview with Breitbart, Emmer laid out the national-security stakes plainly:
"He is going to empower our adversaries like the Communist Party of China. We have the most stringent environmental laws on the face of the planet. If you're going to end mining in the United States of America, you're going to send it to places like China and Russia where they don't care."
Emmer also rejected the notion that mining opponents hold any special claim to environmental concern. He told Fox News Digital that every lawmaker shares the goal of clean water and clean air, and that blocking domestic extraction does not eliminate mining worldwide. It simply moves it to countries with weaker standards.
"What you're literally saying is, 'I'd rather have the Chinese and other adversaries mine in the old-fashioned ways and not care about leaving the world in a better condition, than allow us to do it right here in Minnesota, where we have one of the top precious metal mines in the world.'... And we have the most stringent environmental laws in the world, I would argue, that are going to ensure that it's done safely, and it protects not only the people doing the work, but it protects the environment."
The Duluth Complex contains copper, nickel, and palladium, metals used in everything from cell phones to automobiles to military equipment. Refusing to mine them domestically does not reduce global demand. It shifts supply chains toward adversaries who face no comparable environmental oversight.
Walz is an outgoing governor. AP News reported that the executive order will expire by next April, 90 days after Walz leaves office. The next governor could adopt it or abandon it entirely. That timeline raises a straightforward question: if this order cannot outlast a single transition of power, what is it for?
Walz framed his action in sweeping terms. "It's our duty as Minnesotans to ensure the sacred place remains wild, pristine and unharmed," he said. In a separate statement, the governor declared: "As far as my administration is concerned, the fight for the future of the Boundary Waters is over."
But the fight is plainly not over. The order directs the DNR to draft a permanent legislative ban, an acknowledgment that executive action alone cannot settle the matter. And the company at the center of the dispute, Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, a subsidiary of Chile-based Antofagasta Minerals, has been seeking permits to mine copper, nickel, and other precious metals in the Superior National Forest since 2019.
Walz's executive action defying federal law follows a pattern of conflict between his administration and the Trump White House. The order specifically prevents the state from cooperating with any federal environmental review of nonferrous mining in the watershed, a direct refusal to participate in a process Congress authorized months earlier.
Save The Boundary Waters, the environmental group most closely associated with the mining ban, praised Walz's move. Executive Director Ingrid Lyons said the federal government had "sold out our canoe country" by stripping protections earlier in the year.
"Now, our governor is doing right by Minnesota by pulling out all of the stops to keep toxic copper mining out of the headwaters of the Boundary Waters, while also calling on our state's legislature to finish the job permanently."
Becky Rom, chairperson of the same group, put it more bluntly: "The science is clear: copper mining and the Boundary Waters cannot safely coexist."
Mining is already banned inside the Boundary Waters itself. The dispute centers on the buffer zone surrounding it, land where environmental groups warn that mining activity could still harm the inner protected area. A significant portion of the Boundary Waters falls under federal jurisdiction, which means Walz's state-level order has limited reach over the lands Congress opened to leasing.
That jurisdictional gap is the central weakness in Walz's position. He can block state permits and refuse state cooperation. He cannot override federal law. The order reads less like a governing action and more like a political statement aimed at a base that wants confrontation with the Trump administration, regardless of whether the confrontation produces results.
Walz's approval ratings have fallen sharply in Minnesota amid a separate fraud crisis that has dogged his administration. An executive order that generates favorable headlines among environmentalists and progressive donors costs him nothing politically, and expires before anyone has to live with the consequences.
The federal legislation Trump signed in April passed both chambers of Congress. It was not an executive whim or a regulatory shortcut. Elected representatives debated the issue, voted, and sent the bill to the president's desk. The Senate margin was 50, 49.
Rep. Pete Stauber, whose northern Minnesota district includes the Boundary Waters region, led the legislation. The bill reversed a Biden-era administrative order, not a statute, that had imposed a 20-year moratorium on new mining leases. Congress replaced an executive-branch policy with a law. Walz responded by issuing his own executive order to block the law's implementation at the state level.
Emmer's characterization was direct. He called the move an act of spite by a governor on his way out the door, one that would harm Minnesota union workers who stood to benefit from mining jobs and weaken the country's position against China in the race for critical minerals.
The broader record of the Walz administration does not inspire confidence that this order was driven by careful policy analysis. A governor facing investigations, declining public trust, and a ticking clock on his time in office chose to pick a fight with federal law, and structured the fight so it expires the moment he walks out the door.
Walz also directed state agencies to review 38 existing mining leases in the area, an additional step that signals an intent to slow-walk any private-sector activity in the region for the remainder of his term.
Meanwhile, the race to replace Walz is already underway, and the next governor will face an immediate decision on whether to continue obstructing a federal law that Congress passed and the president signed.
Emmer put the stakes in terms any voter can understand:
"Every one of us is an environmentalist. I make this point, so nobody gets to claim the high ground. It's like somebody saying, 'I'm a better conservative than you.' No, we all care about our environment. We all want clean water. We all want clean air."
The difference, Emmer argued, is whether you mine critical minerals under the strictest environmental laws in the world, or hand that work to Beijing and Moscow, where no one is watching.
When a lame-duck governor spends his final months blocking a federal law he cannot overturn, the gesture tells you everything about the priorities, and nothing about the policy.
