Under a new set of rules proposed by the state Department of Fish and Game, the agency would reduce the number of gold miners' suction dredging permits it issues annually statewide from 4,000 to 1,500 and prohibit dredging on more than 20 north state streams.
The regulation is one of many proposed changes to statewide regulations that the DFG has proposed to comply with court orders and recent state laws.
Chip Hess, who owns the Miner's Cache in Redding, said the regulations are hurting businesses and families.
"We have hundreds of families in the north state that make a living or supplement their incomes from mining," Hess said.
"First they shut the lumber industry down. Now they're basically shutting the mining industry down," he said.
The DFG took public comments on a first round of proposed regulations last year. Based on those comments, the agency made further changes in the proposed suction dredging regulations. It is taking public comment on the newest proposals until March 5.
Other new regulations include a provision that after a suction dredge is removed from a stream, it would have to be either decontaminated or kept out of the water for two weeks before putting it back in another stream. Two dredges could not be operated within 500 feet of each other on a stream. And dredging could only occur from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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DreamWeaver writes4
'via Blog this'
The SEIR was based on flawed science, and Mark Stopher knows this yet still wants to quote it? An unmodified gold suction dredge is the MOST EFFICIENT device known for REMOVING mercury, gold, and other heavy metals from the streams. As measured in several State and Federal test it was found to be 98% efficient in removing mercury from the streams and rivers. This compares to 93% efficiency using the centrifugal dredge the environmentalist want to use. Keeping the gold dredges out of the water, will leave the mercury, which can then be carried downstream to warmer water, where it may methylate and then ACTUALLY harm the fish. And as flytyr correctly pointed out, mercury and lead occur naturally here. There are places here in Shasta County where on a hot summer day you can see it "bleeding" out of the rock and flowing down to the stream below. But let's take the dredges that would remove it out of the water. Makes no sense.
Todays modern gold extraction techniques, including suction dredges do more to clean the environment in a single weekend than most other "environmentalists" do in a year. Anyone who would like to join us and help fight this bureaucratic nonsense should contact PLP (Public Lands for the People), WMA (Western Mining Alliance), or locally for more information drop an email to shasta_miners@yahoo.com