Author

Becky Rom
Becky Rom, an Ely resident, is the national chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.
Here’s the facts about the Boundary Waters and why we need to protect it from mining
By: Becky Rom - May 11, 2023
U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber’s actions to expose America’s most popular wilderness, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, to America’s most toxic industry is bad policy and unconstitutional. Stauber, who is chair of the Natural Resource Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, recently hosted a field hearing in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, with several Republican House members […]
Twin Metals’ demand for a mine plan review is a farce
By: Becky Rom - August 31, 2022
On August 22, Twin Metals sued the Interior Department in a shameless effort to gain sulfide-ore copper mining leases next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Biden Administration had nullified those leases after the prior administration renewed them. The accompanying propaganda pitch by Twin Metals, whose owner is the Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta, […]
What’s with Rep. Pete Stauber’s slavish devotion to a Chilean mining company? | Opinion
By: Becky Rom - May 23, 2022
Earlier this month at a press conference, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., cried a river for a Chilean company that wants to mine the public’s copper from the public’s land upstream from the public’s most popular wilderness area. But he apparently couldn’t find his notes when another giant company, Cleveland-Cliffs, laid off some 400 steelworkers […]
We won a major Boundary Waters battle — now let’s win the war | Opinion
By: Becky Rom - February 15, 2022
Stretching for 150 miles along the international border, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario form the greatest canoe country wilderness on the planet. On January 26 the Biden administration canceled the only two federal mineral leases in the Minnesota headwaters of this vast watery landscape, after determining […]
Counterpoint: Prove It First law is not enough to protect the Boundary Waters | Opinion
By: Becky Rom - November 12, 2021
A recent commentary in the Reformer (“Biden’s move to protect the Boundary Waters is great, but we need stronger laws“) proposes an approach that is inadequate to attain permanent protection for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park. The “Prove It First” legislation espoused therein will not ensure that these magnificent wild […]
The Twin Metals mine would also contribute to the climate crisis | Opinion
By: Becky Rom - July 29, 2021
Vast swaths of the North American West and other places as far-flung as Siberia and Sardinia are dying in heat and flames this summer, while torrential rains have swamped parts of England, Germany and China. The storms in the latter two countries have killed between 200 and 300 people— at least — and caused untold […]