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Legislative and Regulatory Update
April 2020 by Scott Harn
• Washington State copies California’s wayward regulations
On March 9, the Washington State legislature sent a bill to Gov. Inslee’s desk that will prohibit all forms of motorized mining in streams where Endangered Species Act listed fish are present. The governor is expected to sign the measure.
House Bill 1261 passed 60-35, while companion bill SB 5322 passed in the Senate 37-10, with votes passed along party lines; Democrats were in favor, while Republicans were against it.
The bill would make all motorized prospecting and mining illegal in ESA-designated waterways. Uneducated legislators swayed by extreme environmental groups continue to ignore the benefits provided by suction gold dredgers.
The evidence is clear that dredge miners remove heavy metals like mercury and lead and create desired thermal refugia as they clean our waterways. Dredging “seasons” were already in place so that dredging operations did not interfere with spawning seasons.
Bills like these passed in Washington State are the reason why we continue to focus our efforts on changes at the federal level. Utilizing federal preemption on federal mining claims, we believe these types of frivolous regulations can be overcome, and we continue to advocate for changes at the federal level during our trips to Washington, DC with Public Lands for the People. (You can read more about our efforts in the “PLP Update” column.)
Melman on Gold & Silver
Talk about “déjà vu!” Americans woke up early morning Tuesday, November 6 with a Democratic President; a Senate with a narrow Democratic lead and a House with a strong Republican majority. They went to bed late Tuesday night with a Democratic President; a Senate with a narrow Democratic lead and a House with a strong Republican majority.
Pocket Mining Potential in Nevada's East Humboldt Range
Since the cycle of water flow is dominated by excessive and sudden “gulley washers” after downpours typical of desert country, there is a tendency to spread gold values out in the alluvial fans and not have placer gold concentrations more typical of big river deposits.
Silverton's Gold
Within this area, about two million ounces of gold and fifty million ounces of silver have been mined. Faults, dikes, veins and fissures that carry the ore form a concentric radial pattern—like spokes on a wagon wheel—around the caldera core.
Feds Release Opinion on Planned Mine Under Montana Wilderness
A proposed silver and copper mine that would burrow under a wilderness area in northwestern Montana will not affect bull trout, nor will it harm grizzly bears so long as some additional precautions are taken, federal wildlife authorities said.
AZ Miners and Minerals Department Threatened with Elimination
Once again, the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources (ADMMR) is being threatened with elimination.
Our Readers Say
Suction Dredging Battle Escalates
• State attorneys claim the Court of Appeals wrongly relied on South Dakota Mining Association v. Lawrence County regarding federal preemption...
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