{"id":2280,"date":"2009-05-18T07:46:05","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T14:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blitransfer.wpengine.com\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2017-06-21T14:23:02","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T19:23:02","slug":"sb-670-place-moratorium-dredge-mining-california-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/2009\/05\/18\/sb-670-place-moratorium-dredge-mining-california-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"SB 670 Would Place a Moratorium on Dredge Mining in California Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A modern day Gold Rush<\/a> is happening in America! Membership in the Gold Prospectors of American Association<\/a> has expanded by 20%, and 3000 new mining claims have been filed in California over the past two years. \u00c2\u00a0Over half of these new claims were filed in the first quarter of 2009! \u00c2\u00a0At over $900 an ounce, prospectors are looking to gold during the current economic recession, but what is it doing to our rivers?<\/p>\n

Image by oregon<\/a>\"Suction<\/a>
Suction dredge mining harms salmon spawning habitat on the Klamath River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idyllic image of panning for gold is not an economic reality for miners. Suction dredges are the tools of modern day gold miners. \u00c2\u00a0The dredges suck up river bottom, use a sluice to sort out the gold, then dump the remaining silt back in the river. \u00c2\u00a0The negative effects of suction mining are disrupting spawning habitat, creating more turbid river conditions, spilling fuel into waterways, stirring up mercury leftover from the last Gold Rush, and killing aquatic organisms.<\/p>\n

SB 670 would place a moratorium on dredge mining in California rivers. \u00c2\u00a0The Sierra Fund<\/a> explains:<\/p>\n

This bill was introduced by Senator Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) to place a moratorium on motorized dredge mining pending a full scientific review and update of rules by the California Department of Fish and Game. The bill is scheduled to come before the California Senate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Natural Resources and Water Committee on April 28, 2009.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a result of a 2005 lawsuit filed by the Karuk tribe<\/a>, the\u00c2\u00a0California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) must undergo a\u00c2\u00a0California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review to study the effects of dredge mining on fisheries. \u00c2\u00a0The DFG failed to complete the study by the July 2008 deadline. \u00c2\u00a0SB 670 would create a temporary moratorium on dredge mining until this CEQA review and subsequent rule changes were complete.<\/p>\n

California fisheries are in trouble<\/a>, and hobby mining is contributing to the problem of poor river conditions. The states fisheries cannot sustain the negative impact of\u00c2\u00a0loosely regulated and unenforced suction dredging, especially on the Klamath River<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0SB 670 would stop new permits from being issued until a scientific review is completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A modern day Gold Rush is happening in America! Membership in the Gold Prospectors of American Association has expanded by 20%, and 3000 new mining claims have been filed in California over the past two years. \u00c2\u00a0Over half of these new claims were filed in the first quarter of 2009! \u00c2\u00a0At over $900 an ounce, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[11,12,14],"tags":[2854,392,394,2650,1184,1374,1397,1881,1917,2081,2107,2407,2418],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/klamath-river.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}