Jack Bergman: “I thank my friend and colleague from northern Minnesota for yielding. We share a lot of commonalities, and one is our…”

“I thank my friend and colleague from northern Minnesota for yielding. We share a lot of commonalities, and one is our love of the outdoors and of our national treasures. Mr. Speaker, I rise in favor today of H.R. 3195, the Superior National Forest Restoration Act. For those of us in the North Woods of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, mining is a core part of our history, economies, and way of life. From the long heritage of copper country in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the millions of tons of iron ore that come from Minnesota each year, it is a treasure. The abundant resources in our region are now more important than ever with sources of nickel, cobalt, titanium, and now even helium being discovered and poised to play a huge role in the growth of renewable energy technologies and mineral independence. At the same time, those of us in the Great Lakes region are fiercely protective of our forests, waters, and wilderness, which is why I am a proud supporter of programs like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. It is the job of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to properly balance responsible resource extraction with the protection of our natural treasures. Instead of balance, the Biden administration pushed a 20-year ban on mining on more than 200,000 acres of land entirely outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.…”