Amador County – Governor Jerry Brown last week vetoed specific parts of the State budget bill that would affect dredge mining, but another bill is pending that could still affect the industry.

Brown in a statement with the veto June 30th said: “I am deleting Provision 3, which would prohibit the Department of Fish and Game from using funds appropriated in this item for suction-dredge regulation, permitting, or other activities, except enforcement and litigation costs.”

The Governor said: “This provision would prohibit the Department from completing a court-ordered Environmental Impact Report regarding the impacts of suction dredge mining on Coho salmon and other threatened or endangered species. While I am vetoing this language to ensure the Department is not in violation of the court order, I direct the Secretary of Resources to examine the program and associated policies before restarting the permit process.”

California Fish & Game Environmental Program Manager Mark Stopher said Tuesday that “this action resolves some of the uncertainty about completion of the regulation writing process and compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which we had projected for completion in November.” He said “the Governor has not acted yet on a related budget trailer bill,” Assembly Bill 120.

AB 120 in part states that: “Existing law designates the issuance by the Department of Fish & Game of permits to operate vacuum or suction dredge equipment to be a project under the (CEQA), and suspends the issuance of permits, and mining pursuant to a permit, until the department has completed an environmental impact report for the project as ordered by the court in a specified court action.”

AB 120 says: “Existing law prohibits the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake, for instream mining purposes, until the Director of Fish and Game certifies to the Secretary of State” that the “department has completed the environmental review of its existing vacuum or suction dredge equipment regulations as ordered by the court,” that the “department has transmitted for filing with the Secretary of State a certified copy of new regulations, as necessary,” and that “the new regulations are operative.”

AB 120 “would modify that moratorium to prohibit the use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment until June 30, 2016, or until the director’s certification to the secretary as described above, whichever is earlier.” The bill also would “require the director to certify that the new regulations fully mitigate all identified significant environmental impacts and that a fee structure is in place that will fully cover all costs to the department related to the administration of the program.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.