BWCA Makes Annual Top 10 Endangered Rivers List

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Boundary Waters Canoe Area has made an environmental group's annual Top 10 list of the country's most endangered rivers.

Washington-based American Rivers says the northern Minnesota wilderness area is threatened by a proposed copper-nickel mine near the South Kawishiwi River close to Ely. The river flows into the Boundary Waters. Opponents of the Twin Metals mine fear there will be acid runoff and other pollution from its waste piles that could cause irreparable harm to the BWCA.

Twin Metals spokesman Bob McFarlin says the project will meet all federal and state environmental standards, and the Boundary Waters will be protected.

The project is still in the planning stages, and any actual mining is years away, but it could become one of the world's largest copper mines.

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