<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div class="" style=""><span class="" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(128, 0, 64); line-height: 22.66666603088379px;">California gold miners score another win over state</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class=""> -- </span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class=""> </span><span class="" style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;">Dan Walters</span><span style="font-family:
Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class=""> in the </span><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article6479706.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class="">Sacramento Bee</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class="">$ -- 1/15/15</span><br style=""></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.66666603088379px;" class=""><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">California’s 21</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"
class="">st</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class=""> century gold miners have scored a second major victory over state efforts to restrict – or ban – them from searching for the precious metal in rivers and streams on federally owned land, such as national forests.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">On Monday, San Bernardino County Judge Gilbert Ochoa, building on a previous decision by a state appellate court, declared that the state’s moratorium on using suction dredges to sift through gravel had become a de facto ban and thus violated federal mining law, which encourages mining on federal lands.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">His ruling was a victory for the Western Mining Alliance, which has battled the moratorium <a
href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB670&search_keywords=dredging" class="" style=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #0c76ba" class="">signed into law</span></a> in 2009 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the law allowed dredging permits to be issued, they had to meet conditions that Ochoa and the appellate court said are impossible to meet.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">It was also a setback for environmental groups, which had sponsored the legislation, contending that suction dredging damages spawning grounds for salmon and other fish.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">Last October, the 3</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;" class="">rd</span><span
style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class=""> District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of a miner who had been charged with illegal dredging in Plumas County, citing federal court rulings that the federal Mining Act of 1872 specifically includes “the encouragement of exploration and mining of valuable minerals on federal lands…”</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">Judge Ochoa referred to that ruling, saying that the state permitting process “stands as an obstacle to the full purposes and objectives of Congress.”</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class="">Craig Lindsay, president of the miners’ organization, said that those rulings “allow us to work with the state to ensure the protection of water quality and wildlife, while still allowing us
to recover gold.”</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Georgia;" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class=""><i class="" style="">Call The Bee’s Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, </i><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/walters" class="" style=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(12, 118, 186);" class=""><i class="" style="">www.sacbee.com/walters</i></span></a><i class="" style="">. Follow him on Twitter</i></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;" class="">
</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Georgia; color: rgb(12, 118, 186);" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" class=""><a href="https://twitter.com/WaltersBee" class="" style=""><i class="" style="">@WaltersBee</i></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000" class=""><i class="" style="">.</i></span></div><div class="" style=""><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000" class=""><i class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></i></span></div></div></body></html>