Is Dredging Legal in California
In recent environmental impact studies, scientists have presented evidence that mercury excavated by suction dredging escapes from miners` machines, disperses into the water stream and leaves behind dangerous particles. Elemental mercury attaches to particles in water, is absorbed by bacteria, which are then eaten by beetles, which are then eaten by fish, which are then caught for human consumption. AMRA documents regularly refer to the fact that Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), a leading voice against suction dredges, comes from Hollywood to point out the cultural differences that separate politicians from urban state enclaves to marginalized rural communities from which many gold miners originate. Poe believes that politicians and democratic activists, whose lives are radically different from that of small miners, do not understand the complexity of practices such as dredging suction work and only oppose them in principle. “There are people who just don`t want [suction dredging extraction] to happen for ideological reasons,” he said. To view the video of the recent illegal dismantling of the extractor excavator, click here. Miners` groups such as the California-based American Miners` Rights Association and Western Mining Alliance, as well as representatives of California`s rural counties, claim California lawmakers have violated their rights to mine gold — a practice as old as the state itself. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Fund and the Center for Biological Diversity say suction dredging contaminates California`s rivers and endangers the plant and animal life that lives there. Juvenile rights groups object to the way the legislature changed the definition of suction dredging when it passed SB 637, which “prohibits the use of a mechanized or motorized system to remove or assist in the removal or treatment of materials from the bed, bank or canal of a river, a stream or lake to extract minerals.” California`s ban on the use of suction dredges to extract gold from rivers is legal and will not be overturned by a 19th-century federal law allowing mining on federal lands, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The state legislature and courts have assessed the potential environmental risks of the suction excavator. Since 2005, the Senate and State Assembly have passed eight bills that amend the practice laws – the Water Code and the Fishing and Hunting Code, and groups that are both for and against the practice have sued the state nine times for both codes. The bill was stalled before passing the Senate, and now its supporters and opponents are regrouping as the State Water Board prepares to implement a permit structure that could authorize dredging of suction operations in California. SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In response to an emergency request from a coalition of tribal, conservation, and fishing groups, California authorities have closed a loophole in the state`s mining ban on aspirational dredging. This measure will protect water quality, wildlife and fisheries from destructive forms of recreational mining. Suction dredging is an environmentally harmful mining practice that has been banned in California since 2009, but since early this spring, miners have made modifications to the equipment of suction dredgers to take advantage of what they perceived as a “loophole” in the ban. “Suction dredging cleans up the environment,” Poe said. “It removes 98% of the mercury with the modern excavators we use. It removes all garbage, lead weights, hooks. Stone and the miners hoped that SB 1222 would solve these problems.
Proposed amendments to the Hunting and Fishing Code included amending the definition of suction dredges for “the use of equipment that removes minerals and water associated with the processing and recovery of minerals” and limiting restrictions on motorized equipment to any machine that “transports matter containing minerals by extraction or nozzle.” Poe, the founder of Miners` Rights, has received complaints from minors who have clashed with law enforcement about whether their use of motorized equipment for techniques other than dredging is restricted by the changes to the Fish and Game Code introduced by SB 637. He also helped organize legal defense for minors who claim that law enforcement officers patrolling California`s national parks and other public spaces exploit the ambiguous language of the law to interpret it too zealously. Below is the HTML version of the previous file, which represents the previous restrictions that were already in place. www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/pdffiles/SuctionDredgeRegs.pdf.Page 1 State of California Resources Agency ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE GAMEwww.dfg.ca.govConserving of California since 1870LAS 9008(Rev. 07/06) TO:All sucking dredge licence holders At the end of this document, the current regulations of the Department of Fisheries and Game for suction dredging in rivers, streams and lakes are joined. Follow these steps to use the regulations. Step 1: Review the general regulations on suction dredging (Cal. Code Regs., Tit. 14, § 228), in particular the sections on equipment requirements (Cal. Code Regs., Tit. 14, § 228(e)) and restrictions on operating methods (Cal. Code Regs., tit.
14, § 228(f)). Step 2: Follow the steps below to determine the time of year when dredging is permitted and any special restrictions that apply to the stream, river or lake where you want to suck up the suction dredge: 1.