It really is just pay-to-play. Let’s look at the backdoor deal that got a foreign company access to mine near the Boundary Waters.
The man Trump put in charge of protecting America’s public lands? He left office, started a lobbying firm, and immediately got paid $380,000 by a foreign mining company that wanted those same lands opened up.
Public records show Twin Metals paid $380,000 to the Bernhardt Group a firm created by Trump’s former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt specifically to cash in on his government connections. The money changed hands between mid-2025 and early 2026.
And it worked. Trump signed the resolution April 27, lifting the mining moratorium near the Boundary Waters permanently. No future president can undo it.
Twin Metals Minnesota is a subsidiary of Chile-based Antofagasta Minerals one of the wealthiest mining conglomerates in South America. They’ve had their eye on the copper, nickel, and metals sitting beneath the Superior National Forest since 2019. The Boundary Waters lies directly downstream.
They didn’t win this with public support. They won it with a checkbook and an insider.
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