Earth Day 2026 seems the time to reflect on the deterioration of the commitment to our environment. My accompanying image was generated by an AI prompt asking for an image that focused on the recent federal decision to end protection for the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.
A recent Senate vote, championed by Representative Stauber of northern Minnesota, passed largely along partisan lines and allows Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chile-based mining giant Antofagasta, to mine within the watershed of the Boundary Waters, though not directly within the federally protected wilderness zone.
This decision is in keeping with the positions taken by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has reduced the agency’s budget by 65% and eliminated its Office of Research and Development.