Former DNR commissioner to lead Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters

A former Minnesota Department of Natural Resources commissioner is now heading an advocacy group opposing the proposed Twin Metals copper mine.
Tom Landwehr was picked to be executive director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters “to protect America’s most popular Wilderness from the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining,” according to a news release.
“The Boundary Waters is the most threatened public lands in America,” Landwehr said in a statement Tuesday. “We wouldn't dig a huge mine next to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, and we shouldn't dig one next to the Boundary Waters.”
Landwehr, of Shoreview, Minn., served as DNR commissioner during all eight years of Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration.
The DNR under Landwehr issued permits for another contentious copper mine, the PolyMet project in the Hoyt Lakes area and Lake Superior watershed, in November.
Another advocacy group, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, took issue with that point and said it was “dismayed” by the hiring.
“We are committed to protecting both the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior from the threats of sulfide mines,” executive director Chris Knopf said in a statement.
Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, is currently awaiting federal review of its mineral leases.