Author

Chris Knopf

Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, has worked for more than 25 years to protect, preserve and restore our wild places. Prior to joining the Friends of the Boundary Waters, he was a practicing environmental attorney, served as the Ohio office director for The Trust for Public Land and worked as a major gifts officer with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.

COMMENTARY

Clean water is a winning issue. Why are politicians so against it? | Opinion

By: Chris Knopf - June 3, 2022

Though it’s absurd that clean water would be a partisan issue, those of us who are concerned about the future of our state’s water tend to vote Democratic. However, the DFL leadership’s dismal response to two big issues concerning clean water – Line 3 and the proposed copper-sulfide mines near the Boundary Waters — has […]

COMMENTARY

Biden’s move to protect the Boundary Waters is great, but we need stronger laws | Opinion

By: Chris Knopf - November 9, 2021

Minnesotans and Americans across the country celebrated last month when the Biden administration announced that it applied for a 20-year moratorium on copper-sulfide mining on 225,000 acres of federal land surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. For almost a decade, proposed copper-sulfide mining near the Boundary Waters has been one of the biggest environmental […]

COMMENTARY

Standing up to special interests — Opinion

By: Arne Carlson, Janet Entzel, Chris Knopf, Duke Skorich and Tom Berkelman - September 16, 2021

Today, we are at the crossroads. On the one hand, we have the growing threats of climate change, which threatens us with fires, droughts and violent weather. On the other hand, we have a government that is increasingly being captured by special interests, which — as a result of the 2010 Supreme Court decision known […]

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