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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Proposed Suction Dredging
Regs Causing a Stir<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">By Malcolm Terence, Two Rivers Tribune Contributing Writer<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Published March 6, 2012<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The state’s
new round of proposed regulations for suction dredging for gold is getting
mixed reviews by the stakeholders. The Karuk Tribe, which has opposed dredging
because of harm to fish and water quality, says they are an improvement in
every way, but still inadequate. And the Western Mining Alliance (WMA) says
“this is the end of suction dredging in the state of California.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The dredges,
currently banned by legislation until June 30, 2016, operate as floating vacuum
cleaners that use a gas-powered pump to suck up gravel and cobble in a river or
stream and run it through a sluice box that winnows out any gold. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>At its height,
dredgers lined up close together in large numbers in places like the Salmon
River where their operations triggered concerns about the effects on dwindling
aquatic populations. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The WMA
website for January said that miners need to focus on overturning two specific
state laws—SB670 and AB120—that block continued mining. The group wrote that
2011 “was the year that propaganda, mistruths, and extreme environmentalism
threw us off the rivers.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The group
appealed to their members’ support, a litigation strategy, by each donating
$250 to fund an hour of lawyer time. The WMA website said claim holders had
been slow to respond to an appeal from People for Public Land for information
about individual claims. Only a few claim holders had responded so far. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>In their
detailed response to the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), the mining
advocates challenged several specific regulations including the 4 inch maximum
nozzle size, the ban on dredging within 3 feet from a channel bank, and the
requirement that no dredge operate within 500 feet of another. They claim a
part of the state’s environmental review shows that sediment settles within 300
feet and that the turbidity isn’t harmful to fish, anyway. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>They also
objected to a requirement that a containment system be used so fuel and oil
don’t enter the river and said fuel isn’t spilled unless a dredge is flipped,
an event that would submerge the containment system anyway.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>And they
complained that there was no basis for the issuance limit in the new regulations
of only 1,500 permits statewide, a figure that they said would not allow one
permit for every 10 claim holders. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The
1,500-permit limit was actually one of the best improvements in the new
regulations, according to Craig Tucker, Klamath coordinator for the Karuk Tribe
since 2004. He also praised the 500-foot separation between dredges. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“The regs
are an improvement in almost every way but they are still unacceptable,” Tucker
wrote in an e-mail to the Two Rivers Tribune. He pointed out that they still allow
dredges in the main stem of the Salmon River which is refuge of the Klamath’s
last spring Chinook, and the Scott and Shasta Rivers which are habitat for the
threatened coho salmon. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The regulations do ban dredges in
the lowest 8 miles of the main stem Salmon River as well as many other
locations in the Klamath Basin. They include a ban on dredging anything within
a 500-foot radius of where a stream enters a river. These stretches of
cold-water refugia often fill with migrating fish as the main river water warms
in late summer and early fall. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">One Salmon River resident, a member
of the Karuk Tribe, who lives near such an area, praised that regulation and
said “Good. I won’t have to have miners threaten to kick my butt when I tell them
they shouldn’t mine there.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Tucker, a
biochemist, challenged the claims of mining advocates that the dredges did not
stir up old mercury deposits and said “You’re welcome to your own opinion but
not your own facts. Studies by California Water Quality Control Board specifically
measuring the concentrations of suspended mercury above and below an operating
dredge show that dredging dramatically increases the concentrations of this
highly toxic heavy metal in the river. Miners actually participated in the
study and they are part of the CEQA record. Problem is the Department of Fish
and Game claim their job is not to regulate water quality. Fish and Game
basically leave it up to the water board to regulate dredging to prevent the
mercury problem and the water board does not have law enforcement personnel.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Tucker reiterated that the
regulations are an improvement but still not adequate. “Until Fish and Game can
come up with regulations that don't jeopardize the survival of salmon, lamprey,
mussels, and water quality, the Karuk Tribe will continue this fight,” he said.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Another condition of AB 120 is that
the costs of a permit should fully recover all the costs to the DFG related to
administration of dredging. Such a change would need to be approved by the
legislature. Pro-dredging advocates said that such a fee might be prohibitive. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Dave McCracken, owner of the New
49ers recreational mining business in Happy Camp could not respond to telephone
calls because he was out of the country, and also did not respond to repeated
e-mailed interview questions from Two Rivers Tribune. He has postings on the
issue on his website at </span><a href="http://www.goldgold.com">http://www.goldgold.com</a><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-style:normal"> .<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The actual regulations are available
at </span><a href="http://www.dfg.ca.gov/suctiondredge/">http://www.dfg.ca.gov/suctiondredge/</a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-style:normal">. The website for the Western Mining Alliance is </span>http://westernminingalliance.org/<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-style:normal">. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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