Today, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management denied the renewal of two long-held federal mineral leases in the Iron Range region of northeastern Minnesota. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:

“Once again this administration is showing its true colors by eliminating blue collar jobs and impairing rights with the stroke of a pen. Livelihoods and future development is at stake when the federal government can just ignore basic rights at its whim. The administration has continually jeopardized economic futures and interpreted the law to burnish the president’s radical environmental legacy. Today is no different.

“I look forward to working with the incoming administration to review these decisions that have serious consequences for rural communities.”

These copper and nickel mining leases were originally issued in 1966 with unlimited, successive 10-year renewals and last renewed in 2004.