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Washington D.C. (Northland’s NewsCenter) --- The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that will swap parts of the federally owned Boundary Waters Canoe Area to state owned school trust fund land.

The House of Reps passed the bill 225 to 189.

Representative Chip Cravaack (R – Minnesota) authored this bill that would free up 86,000 acres of land in the BWCA that was originally granted to Minnesota to be held in trust for the benefit of the state’s public school system.

If this bill is signed into law, it would free up land that is scattered like a checkerboard across the BWCA to be used for industries such as mining and logging. A percentage of the revenue made from those industries on that land would go to fund the state’s education system.

Back in 1857, land in the area of the Superior National Forest was used to raise funds for public schools. However, in 1978, the National Forest Service took over that land creating the Superior National Forest and the BWCA, locking in those pieces of land and ending any flow of funds into the education system.

The bill will now move onto the Senate; however no bill has been introduced to the Senate from either Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar or Al Franken, even though Minnesota has already passed a bill that would expedite the swap of these lands and was signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton.

Democrats in the U.S. Congress say hunters and anglers oppose this piece of legislation because it would reduce access in the Superior National Forest for recreation.

Democrats are also worried that businesses in the Superior National Forest will be negatively affected if mining is allowed in the area because of the potential pollutants that could run off into the soil and water.

Republicans argue that this bill will not affect businesses in the Superior National Forest and will help create jobs in Northern Minnesota once more mining and timber operations can begin in the trust lands.

Republicans also reiterated that this bill will help fund public education since the State of Minnesota is already dealing with spending cuts and a budget deficit.

The bill states that Minnesota must provide an assessor to evaluate the price of each trust land in order to estimate how much money can be put toward education funds.

If this bill is signed into law by the President, the swap of trust land from the BWCA would have to take place within a year of the enactment of the bill.