Photo: Josh Hild on Unsplash.com

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - February 13, 2026

The United States Senate has delayed a vote on House Joint Resolution 140 (H.J. Res. 140), a measure that would cancel a 20-year federal mining ban in northern Minnesota, set in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden. Legislative activity on the resolution is now deferred until the final week of February after a scheduled state work period, according to the tentative Senate legislative schedule. Regular legislative sessions are scheduled to resume on Monday, February 23. 

H.J. Res. 140 was introduced by Representative Pete Stauber on January 12, 2026, utilizing the Congressional Review Act to target Public Land Order No. 7917. This order, established in 2023, maintains a 20-year moratorium on mineral leasing across approximately 225,000 acres of federal land in the Superior National Forest, near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The House of Representatives passed the resolution on January 21, 2026, with a vote of 214–208, and it was officially received in the Senate on January 26.

Advocacy groups argue that the resolution would strip essential federal protections and set a precedent for overturning public land management decisions. Those in favor of the resolution, however, maintain that the measure is necessary to reverse what they characterize as an overreach in land-use restrictions and to allow for mineral development in the region.