A U.S. Senate vote overturning a mining ban on U.S. Forest Service land near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters has local tribal leaders worrying it sets a precedent for similar actions in the Tongass National Forest.

The 50-49 vote on Thursday puts the validity of all U.S. Forest Service management plans enacted over several decades into question, according to critics. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the legislation, which had already passed the U.S. House.

House Joint Resolution 140 reverses a 20-year mining moratorium enacted in 2023 by the Biden administration for about 350 square miles of Minnesota’s Superior National Forest. The resolution applies a first-ever use of a provision known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA) — which can overturn federal agency rules and regulations on a majority vote of Congress and the president’s approval — to a management decision on Forest Service land.

Concerns about the resolution’s impact on tribal sovereignty were expressed by White Earth Nation located within Minnesota, which stated the legislation “ignores both science and treaty obligations.” Similar worries about the policy implications in Alaska — and transboundary mining issues involving Canadian and First Nations governments — were expressed during a Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s executive council on Friday.

“I do think this sets a precedent that is quite concerning,” said Ku.seen Jacqueline Pata, the tribe’s first vice president.

Among the concerns, said Will Micklin, the council’s fourth vice president, is “it was pushed by Sen. (Dan) Sullivan as the champion of this legislation in the Congress.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, the other members of Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation, also voted for the resolution.

“It’s a test case for what could be applied in other areas, like Alaska in particular, and what this involved was the ceded lands of White Earth, so this is just the example of the extent that the Congress is now willing to withdraw protections that affect tribal interests,” Micklin said.

An 1854 land cession treaty opened an area along the shore of Lake Superior to mining while creating several reservations where tribal citizens retained exclusive land-use rights. Micklin said Tlingit and Haida’s efforts to seek environmental safeguards for waterways affected by transboundary mining activity and full scrutiny of large-scale proposed mining projects “could be fruitless if, in fact, the CRA theory of the Congress is that they can use that act to strip away environmental protections.”

Amanda Coyne, a spokesperson for Sullivan, stated in an email Friday that “it’s important to note that H.J. Res. 140 did not authorize any particular mine, and any proposed project would go through state and federal environmental permitting processes.” A Chilean mining company, Antofagasta, which has long sought the mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, still needs extensive permits to proceed with the project.

“Senator Sullivan sided with building trades, local leaders, and people who live in the area in support of Rep. Stauber’s legislation to overturn the Biden administration’s preemptive unilateral lock up of 225,504 acres in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota for any mineral production,” Coyne wrote. “Alaska is all too familiar with these kinds of sweeping, preemptive actions. The Biden Administration actions — over 70 in Alaska alone — stopped responsible resource development and negatively impacted Alaska’s economy over the objections of those who live closest to those projects.”

Concerns expressed by tribal and other officials about mining impacts and cleanup — notably of the long-abandoned Tulsequah Chief Mine where decades of efforts have lingered — also have been a focus of Sullivan’s, Coyne stated.

“He has raised this issue with successive Canadian prime ministers and continues to push British Columbia to take concrete steps to clean-up the Tulsequah Chief mine site,” she wrote. “He continues to (work) closely with tribal organizations, including Tlingit & Haida, nonprofits and the State of Alaska to pressure both the Canadian government and Canadian mining companies to clean up their toxic mess at Tulsequah Chief and prevent any new pollution.”

This story was first published by the Juneau Independent.