California law currently prohibits “any vacuum or suction dredge equipment” from being used in California waterways. Suction dredge mining uses machines to vacuum up gravel and sand from streams and river bottoms in search of gold. “What the miners are doing now is an overt effort to ignore the spirit of the law, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is doing the right thing by clarifying the legal definition of a suction dredge.” “The mining community is evading the will of the courts and the California legislature, both of which placed a moratorium on dredge mining until regulations that protect the environment can be developed,” said Leaf Hillman, director of Karuk Department of Natural Resources. Today’s proposed regulations would close the loophole to better protect the environment, water quality and cultural resources from the toxic effects of suction dredge mining. The environmentally harmful mining process has been banned in California since 2009, but early in 2013 miners began making equipment modifications to suction dredges to exploit a perceived “loophole” in the ban. SACRAMENTO, Calif.- In response to an emergency request from a coalition of tribal, environmental and fisheries groups, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife proposed emergency rules today to crack down on an upsurge of unregulated suction dredge mining in the state. Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682 x 318Ĭalifornia Moves to Close Suction Dredge Mining Loophole
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