Minnesota’s pristine Boundary Waters refuge on the border with Canada may soon be home to a Chilean company’s copper mine. The New York Times reports the mining company Antofagasta, owned by Andrónico Luksic—the same Chilean billionaire who rents his tony Kalorama D.C. home to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump—may soon get permission to drill near the federally protected waters. While Antofagasta’s request was deemed a potential environmental disaster in the waning days of the Obama administration, the Times reports the Trump administration is re-examining the project, with Forest Service officials waiving one environmental review that the secretary of agriculture had promised to Congress. An Interior Department spokesman described the Obama ruling on the matter as “a flawed decision rushed out the door.” The Times reports the Antofagasta subsidiary Twin Metals Minnesota has reportedly spent $900,000 to lobby those in Washington who might still oppose the plan.
