Energy & Environment — Biden bars new mining in Minnesota wilderness area

The Biden administration is blocking new mining in a wilderness area in Minnesota. Meanwhile, new committee assignments are out, and a former Democratic lawmaker is joining a group that supports natural gas.

This is Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk.

Interior shields Minn. wilderness from new mining

The Biden administration will protect some 225,000 acres in a northeastern Minnesota wilderness area from new mining, Interior Department officials said on a call with reporters Thursday.

The protections will be effective for 20 years, officials said, and will protect parts of the Rainy River watershed, including lands ceded to the Chippewa Bands of Native Americans in 1854 and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The department asserted authorities granted to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to issue the restrictions.

The backstory: 

• A company called Twin Metals sought to mine in the now-protected Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, an effort that was hampered by the Biden administration, which last year revoked two leases held by the company.
  
• Twin Metals later sued the administration in an attempt to regain the leases, an effort that was further complicated by Thursday’s announcement.    

“Twin Metals Minnesota is deeply disappointed and stunned that the federal government has chosen to enact a 20-year moratorium on mining across a quarter million acres of land in northeast Minnesota,” a Twin Metals spokesperson told The Hill in a statement.

“This region sits on top of one of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals that are vital in meeting our nation’s goals to transition to a clean energy future, to create American jobs, to strengthen our national security and to bolster domestic supply chains.” 

Read more about Interior’s move here. 

COMMITTING TO COMMITTEE

The House Energy and Commerce Committee this week announced who would lead its subcommittees.

The Republicans who served as the party’s top officials on its energy and environment subcommittees last year both did not return for the 118th Congress.  

Here are some of the key leaders who will join Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) at the panel’s helm: 

• Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) will chair the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security
  
• Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) will chair the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Minerals
  
• Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) will chair the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  
• Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) will serve as Energy and Commerce’s vice chair 

Separately, newly elected Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) will join the upper chamber’s Environment and Public Works Committee, it was announced Thursday.  

Tim Ryan joins pro-natural gas group

Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who left his seat to run against now-Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) in 2022, will join the leadership council of Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, the D.C.-based natural gas trade group announced Thursday. 

Ryan will join former Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and replace another former Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who left the organization to serve as director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. 

“These are kitchen table issues voters understand — people’s livelihoods and jobs often depend on rational energy policy. As Democrats, we can be pro-climate, pro-affordability, and pro-natural gas,” Ryan said in a statement. 

Natural gas is a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change when it is burned, though it is not as carbon-intensive when burned as coal and oil.  

Read more about Ryan’s move here.  

ON CAPITOL HILL

The House on Thursday debated and voted on a series of amendments to legislation that would restrict withdrawals from the strategic petroleum reserve. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the bill this week.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Human activity and drought ‘degrading more than a third of Amazon rainforest’ (The Guardian) 
• Biden vowed to punish Saudis over oil cut. That’s no longer the plan. (The Washington Post) 
• A Class-Action Wave Is Coming for ESG Claims (Bloomberg) 
• Endangered fox seen in California park for first time in nearly 100 years (SFGate) 
• Regulators nix proposal to delay closure of California’s last nuclear plant (The Los Angeles Times) 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.