“That our wilderness is intact and safe today is no accident. Rather, it is the result of an enduring struggle.
Defending the Boundary Waters is the obligation of each generation. Our parents and their parents worked to keep this place pristine and intact. Many great citizen activists are fighting every day to defeat this mine and protect the Wilderness.
Will we continue Minnesota’s commitment that began more than a century ago and take steps to ensure that the Superior remains a healthy multiuse national forest? Or will we instead allow the destruction of many thousands of acres of this beloved public land, upstream of the Boundary Waters, by permitting a single-use industrial hard-rock mining district, with the inevitable acid mine drainage that would seriously harm aquatic ecosystems downstream? The watershed of the Boundary Waters is simply the wrong place for this kind of mining.
. . . when we have won, you can tell your kids, and their kids, about how you were part of the effort that preserved Minnesota’s crown jewel. And when it’s their turn to raise their voice to fight for some noble goal, you can tell them what you did, and they will learn from you how it is that we fight and win.”
- Vice President Walter Mondale