Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is catching heat for defying President Donald Trump on a key energy policy. The progressive Midwestern leader issued an executive order Tuesday blocking mining permits and leases near a swath of land in northeast Minnesota called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a significant portion of which is under federal jurisdiction. That's despite President Donald Trump signing legislation in April that reversed a Biden administration-era order blocking new mining leases near the Boundary Waters for a period of 20 years. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress, called Walz's move "stupid" and "dangerous."
