Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act
This bill protects and preserves approximately 225,504 acres of federal land and waters in a specified area in the Rainy River Watershed of Superior National Forest in Minnesota from certain mining, such as sulfide-ore copper mining. (The area is upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.)
Specifically, the bill withdraws those acres from
entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws;
location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.
However, the Forest Service is authorized to permit the removal of sand, granite, iron ore, and taconite from national forest system lands within such area if the removal is not detrimental to the water quality, air quality, and health of forest habitat within the Rainy River Watershed.
Land or interest in land within such area that is acquired by the United States must be immediately withdrawn in accordance with this bill.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 21, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 21, 2025: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced it on January 21, 2025, and 41 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 41 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 21, 2025, 597 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 597 days ago, on January 21, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers