Legislation & Regulation
PLP Update
March 2020 by Scott Harn
Momentum continues to build on our proposals to provide regulatory relief for miners. We are encouraged by the recently proposed changes to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, which include some of the recommendations Clark Pearson (Public Lands for the People) and I presented to the Trump administration and members of Congress during our many visits to DC in 2019 and in prior years.
We’ve continued to network with other like-minded groups, including the California Logging Association. Additionally, OurEnergyPolicy—a Washington, DC-based, non-partisan organization that facilitates dialogue on energy policy issues—featured our critical minerals report in their March 3 weekly newletter. They also added it to the OurEnergyLibrary, a resource library with policy-relevant reports from across the sector for energy professionals.
I’m scheduled for my next trip to DC from March 30-April 4 with Clark Pearson, where we will be focusing on several important issues to provide immediate relief for miners.
Getting Suction Dredge Miners Back to Work
First and foremost, we’ll be meeting with administrators at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to seek clarification on the Clean Water Act. We are asking the agency to clarify that the CWA does not apply to suction gold dredging because there is no addition of a pollutant, which is the requirement to trigger the need for a Section 402 EPA permit. This issue has been corrupted by previous 9th Circuit Court rulings and needs immediate clarification so suction dredge miners in Western states can get back to work. (This should also help miners avoid the current push in Washington State to curtail suction dredge mining, which we discuss in our Legislative and Regulatory Update column.)
When we meet with the EPA, we’ll be bringing along endorsements from many organizations, businesses and independent miners, which we’ve collected over the past several months.
Maintaining Access to Mining Claims
While both the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service have thrown a few roadblocks up to prevent miners from accessing their claims, the Forest Service is the source of most of these complaints because of their use of Travel Management Plans that disregard the rights of miners. We will be meeting with two advisors to the Trump administration—one who handles BLM issues and the other USFS issues—to discuss how agency directives can be utilized to resolve these problems.
Road Closures in Arizona
We’ve heard from miners in Arizona about federal agencies closing off historic roads that provide access for miners, and we need your input. While groups like the American Mining Rights Association are attempting to deal with these issues at the state level (thank you, AMRA), we would like to take the case directly to someone at the federal level who can help resolve these issues in a more timely manner. In addition to our scheduled meetings with BLM and the Forest Service, we will be meeting with Congressman Paul Gosar.
Congressman Gosar has met with us personally several times over the past four years. He’s on the House Natural Resources Committee and is the chairman of the Western Caucus, which is comprised of 74 members of the House who are committed to western values. He’s been a huge supporter of miners and mining-related issues.
What We Need From Miners in Arizona
If you are an Arizona miner who is having difficulty accessing your mining claim due to closures or ridiculous requirements imposed by the BLM or Forest Service, please send us a short (one page or less) cover letter to describe the problem, and a map, if possible. We will present these issues to President Trump’s appointees at BLM and/or the Forest Service, where appropriate, and to Congressman Gosar to enlist assistance from him and the Western Caucus.
You can email this information to me at editor@icmj.com. (Put “Arizona access issue” in the subject field.) Or you can send them to me via mail to:
ICMJ—Arizona access issue
Attn: Scott Harn, Editor
PO Box 2260
Aptos, CA 95001
Keep in mind that I must receive this information by March 25, 2020, in order to compile the letters and complete a report for members of the Trump administration and Congressman Gosar before I head out to DC.
We—and Public Lands for the People—thank you for your continued support.
National Forest Closures in California
I found I could not go prospecting in areas where I did not have a mining claim and the Forest Service thought my mere presence was a danger to the forest.
Proposed Regulations for California Suction Dredging
One of the most asinine proposals in the SEIR is to require miners to state when and where they will be dredging. This information would be accessible to the public, which would make them prime candidates for getting their homes burglarized while they are out mining.
Selecting A Low-Risk Region To Explore, Mine or Invest
“The evidence is clear—mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract precious commodity investment dollars...”
Learning the Game and the Power to Change It
The one legal entity that can change the game and provide a path and template to protect landowners and public land users across the United States is the miner.
Mining Districts: A Short Review of Legal Authorities
Mining Districts are the private regulatory authority granted by Congress recognized to regulate the mineral lands held by the United States and for the disposal to citizens of the United States, by means of development and potentially perfected by patent.
Mining Districts in Montana Get Organized
Those miners present immediately recognized the benefits of becoming members of MMAC and joined up on the spot. I spent some time answering a few questions, and then the miners took over.
Oregon Miners Take DEQ to Court, Again
Since 2005, a group representing a handful of Oregon and Washington mining organizations, centered around the Eastern Oregon Mining Association (EOMA) and the Waldo Mining District (WMD), have been actively fighting the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) over their then new “700PM Suction Dredge Mining Permit.”
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