Staff Reports
Governor Tim Walz’s Executive Order 26‑10 is the news peg, and it matters. The governor used his executive power to pause state permitting and to review existing nonferrous mineral leases in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed — the area that feeds the Boundary Waters. That move will reshape the fight over copper‑nickel mining in northern Minnesota and has prompted sharp Republican backlash from leaders who say the order will cost jobs and strengthen our rivals abroad.
What Executive Order 26‑10 actually does
The order tells the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to stop issuing new permits and state leases for nonferrous mining in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed. It directs agencies to refuse to be cooperating state agencies for federal environmental reviews and to review every existing state nonferrous lease in the watershed — a review officials say covers about 38 leases, including one tied to the Twin Metals project. Walz tied the move to protecting the Boundary Waters and paused agency actions “until the litigation is resolved.” Plainly put: the state is putting a big administrative roadblock in front of any mine permitting.
Republican reaction: hard-edged and predictable
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer called the order spiteful and warned it will drive mineral production to adversaries like China and Russia. Emmer argued the practical result of killing mining here is sending supply chains overseas and killing union jobs in northern Minnesota. Rep. Pete Stauber called it “an outright war on Northern Minnesota and our way of life.” That’s not hyperbole from lawmakers who represent the Iron Range — it’s a blunt political response to a step that shuts down a path toward domestic mineral production.
Jobs, national security, and the larger federal fight
This is not just a local land‑use quarrel. Copper, nickel, and palladium are critical for electric vehicles, phones, and the clean‑energy transition. Proponents of Twin Metals and similar projects say they would create hundreds of full‑time jobs and long‑term economic activity. Opponents point to recreation and environmental risk. What changed this year was Congress’s repeal of a federal 20‑year withdrawal that had effectively blocked mining activity; President Trump signed that repeal, reopening the federal pathway. Walz’s EO is a state counterpunch to that federal shift, and it makes clear the fight will live in courts and state agencies for months or years.
Here’s the bottom line: Executive Order 26‑10 asserts a lot of power in the final months of an outgoing administration. It shields the Boundary Waters in rhetoric, but it also puts Minnesota’s mineral deposits and union jobs on ice while foreign rivals keep digging. If conservatives want to win this fight for workers and supply‑chain resilience, the response has to be more than angry quotes — it needs legal clarity, political pressure, and an insistence that America not hand strategic minerals to regimes that don’t share our values. Call it common sense, or call it patriotism. Either way, Walz’s move guarantees the debate is far from over.
