Supreme Court denies review of Bohmker

April 29, 2019

by Scott Harn, Editor/Publisher, ICMJs Prospecting and Mining Journal

The US Supreme Court has denied to review Oregon's ban on in-stream mining. This seems to leave only one option--getting federal legislation passed to restore reasonable regulation to the mining industry in America.

From Jonathan Wood, Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation:

"This morning, the Supreme Court denied further review in Bohmker, leaving the Ninth Circuit’s decision in place. I thought Kaycee wrote an excellent brief on behalf of us but, as I’m sure you all know, the odds of the Supreme Court taking a case are extremely long. It only hears 2-3% of the cases presented to it.

"There continues to be a split among the circuits on this issue, so we’ll have to keep looking for opportunities to present the issue to the Court, especially in the Eighth or Tenth Circuits (AR, MO, IA, NE, SD, ND, MN, WY, UT, CO, NM, KS, OK). For those of you with members or contacts in those states, you might keep an eye out for state or local mining bans in those states."

If you haven't yet read the proposed federal legislation from Public Lands for the People, I would highly recommend you head over to www.publiclandsforthepeople.org, read their proposed solution, and sign on as a supporter. Clark Pearson (PLP) and I have made four week-long trips to DC so far this year and will be returning for another week tomorrow to move this legislation along. You can read more about our latest trip in our PLP Update.