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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.)
All the Gold Ever Mined...
If you have been prospecting for any length of time, then you have probably heard something like, “All the gold ever mined would equal a cube 60 feet on each side.”
The Lost Silver Triangle of the Sierra Madre—Part I
The North American continent harbors a vast mountain fastness that few Anglo-Americans have seen—an awesome land cut by perpendicular canyons and towering peaks, a forbidding wilderness virtually unchanged...
Over the Divide
H. Mason Coggin
1938-2000
Gold Deposition and Gradients of Placer Streams—Part I
When placer miners from the gold rush era began experimenting with the slope of their sluices, they must have pondered the ideal slope for trapping gold in a creek bed too. Logic suggests the same is true for streams...
Alaska Miners to Sue Department of Interior
The Alaska Miners Association announced that it will sue the Department of Interior to set aside Solicitor John Leshy’s “midnight” regulations designed to drive the mining industry out of business in Alaska.
MMAC & PLP Update -- 2015 Minerals and Mining Regulatory Reform Act
Is there any hope for a solution? Yes, there is, and we’ve been working with Public Lands for the People, the Minerals and Mining Advisory Council, attorney James Buchal and others on that solution.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• US Supreme Court may consider requirements for Notitce of Intent
• Oregon considering mining restrictions
• Latest developments in California suction dredging moratorium
• Spotted owl habitat
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