Thanks for all the support from our signers so far (full list below). If you haven’t yet signed your organization on
today will be the last day to join this comment letter on the EA to renew two expired mineral leases held by Twin Metals/Antofagasta in the Superior National Forest in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National
Park. To review letter text and sign on please use this
google form (https://goo.gl/forms/YTR5PBNJkT8VAp812).
Please reach out with any questions,
Chris Rackens
The Wilderness Society
Current Signers
American Canoe Association (ACA)
American Rivers
Center for Biological Diversity
Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
Crow River Trail Guards
Defenders of Wildlife
Duluth for Clean Water
Earthjustice
Earthworks
Environment America
Environment Minnesota
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Environmental Protection Information Center
Ernest C. Oberholtzer Foundation
Friends of the Earth US
genHkids, Inc.
Gophers for the Boundary Waters
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Izaak Walton League of America
Izaak Walton League of America - Minnesota Division
Izaak Walton League of America - W. J. McCabe Chapter
Kentucky Heartwood
Kids For The Boundary Waters
Klamath Forest Alliance
League of Conservation Voters
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Minnesota Environmental Partnership
National Parks Conservation Association
Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
Owatonna Izaak Walton League
Pando Populus
Rainy Lake Conservancy
Science & Environmental Health Network
Sierra Club
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
The Conservation Alliance
The Wilderness Society
University of Minnesota Outdoors Club
Voyageurs National Park Association
Waterkeeper Alliance
Western Environmental Law Center
Wilderness Watch
Women’s Congress for Future Generations
From: Chris Rackens
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:32 AM
To: 'cdp@groups.b-team.org' <cdp@groups.b-team.org>; 'public-lands@groups.b-team.org' <public-lands@groups.b-team.org>; 'partners@savetheboundarywaters.org' <partners@savetheboundarywaters.org>; 'nepa@groups.b-team.org' <nepa@groups.b-team.org>
Subject: Comment on Mineral Leases Threatening the Boundary Waters - New Deadline 1/29
Hello All,
The attached letter was submitted on 1/22, but then the comment deadline was extended until Wed, 1/30. As a result, we’re going to leave this open for additional signatures until 1/29 and then resubmit. The current list of signers is below,
no need to resign if your group is on this list, but please feel free to share within your networks and urge other groups to sign if they are not already on here. To sign on please use this
google form (https://goo.gl/forms/YTR5PBNJkT8VAp812).
Please reach out with any questions,
Chris Rackens
The Wilderness Society
Current Signers
American Canoe Association
American Rivers
Center for Biological Diversity
Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
Crow River Trail Guards
Defenders of Wildlife
Earthjustice
Earthworks
Environment America
Environment Minnesota
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Environmental Protection Information Center
Friends of the Earth US
genHkids, Inc.
Gophers for the Boundary Waters
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Izaak Walton League of America
Izaak Walton League of America - Minnesota Division
Kentucky Heartwood
Kids For The Boundary Waters
Klamath Forest Alliance
League of Conservation Voters
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Minnesota Environmental Partnership
National Parks Conservation Association
Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
Owatonna Izaak Walton League
Pando Populus
Science & Environmental Health Network
Sierra Club
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
The Conservation Alliance
The Wilderness Society
University of Minnesota Outdoors Club
Voyageurs National Park Association
Waterkeeper Alliance
Western Environmental Law Center
Wilderness Watch
Women’s Congress for Future Generations
From: Chris Rackens
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2019 9:54 AM
To: 'cdp@groups.b-team.org' <cdp@groups.b-team.org>; 'public-lands@groups.b-team.org' <public-lands@groups.b-team.org>; 'partners@savetheboundarywaters.org'
<partners@savetheboundarywaters.org>; 'nepa@groups.b-team.org' <nepa@groups.b-team.org>
Subject: RE: Deadline 1/21 - Sign On Comment Letter on Mineral Leases Near the Boundary Waters
Hello Folks,
Reminder to please take a look at this letter today and add your organization.
The deadline to sign will be Monday, January 21st, but this is the MLK holiday so don’t wait.
To sign on and review text of this comment letter please use this
google form (https://goo.gl/forms/YTR5PBNJkT8VAp812).
Chris Rackens
Senior Representative, Government Relations
The Wilderness Society | The Wilderness Society Action Fund
202.429.2643
From: Chris Rackens
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2019 3:24 PM
To: cdp@groups.b-team.org;
public-lands@groups.b-team.org;
partners@savetheboundarywaters.org; nepa@groups.b-team.org
Subject: Deadline 1/21 - Sign On Comment Letter on Mineral Leases Near the Boundary Waters
Hello All,
Apologies for cross posting, but working with a tight deadline here. This is a request to sign on to a comment letter on an environmental assessment that would renew two expired mineral leases at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. Weighing in at an impressively deficient 34 pages the BLM’s EA can be reviewed
here.
To sign on and review text of this comment letter please use this
google form (https://goo.gl/forms/YTR5PBNJkT8VAp812). I’m also attaching a word document with letter text.
The deadline to sign is Monday, January 21st (please note this is the MLK holiday).
If anyone is interested in signing a more lengthy (~150 pages) technical letter, please let me know and I can provide more details. We should have the more in-depth/technical version of this comment letter available for review by Friday
afternoon. If interested in signing the technical letter, please be prepared to review on a short timeframe as sign ons will need to be confirmed by Monday the 21st. Everyone is encouraged to at the very least sign the non-technical version which
is attached and linked above at the google form.
Additional Background: On December 20, 2018, the BLM initiated a 30-day comment period on an environmental assessment (EA) to renew two expired hardrock mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota (Antofagasta) in the Superior National
Forest in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park. The EA assumes lease renewal is mandatory and therefore fails to consider any significant impact or a true no-lease-renewal-alternative. This letter expresses
serious concerns with the BLM's approach, highlights the deficiencies of the EA, and calls for a full EIS or reinstatement of the watershed-wide mineral withdrawal review that was previously
cancelled by press release in September 2018. The Wilderness Society will submit this letter listing all signers on January 22nd, the final day of the comment period, and provide a final copy of this letter to all signers.
With any question, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Chris Rackens
Senior Representative, Government Relations
The Wilderness Society | The Wilderness Society Action Fund
202.429.2643