Amador County – Senator Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) last week “recognized a victory for California’s gold miners in Governor Brown’s budget” with a veto that in effect preserved the California dream of seeking gold.

Gaines said: “I want to thank Governor Brown for upholding the law and protecting the rights of thousands of California miners. His decision is fair and supports the spirited and entrepreneurial group who still chase California’s gold.”

Gaines said “Brown eliminated budget language that would have stripped funding” from California Fish & Game, “making it impossible for the Department to complete a court-mandated study on the effects of suction dredge mining. Without the study, suction dredge mining would have effectively been banned in the state.”

The “Governor saw through the budget trick that was going to kill off this industry and didn’t stand for it,” Gaines said. “There is currently a moratorium on suction dredge mining in California. With the funding now in place,” Fish & Game “can complete the required study and potentially implement new regulations that will end the moratorium, protect the environment and get the miners back in the water.”

He said “gold mining isn’t completely out of the woods yet. Another potential roadblock the miners may face is Assembly Bill 120, currently making its way to the Governor.”

He said AB 120 “would add unattainable new requirements” to the California Environmental Quality Act process that Fish & Game is currently undertaking. He said “if those requirements aren’t met, it imposes a five-year ban on suction dredge mining, regardless of the funding mechanism that is now in place.”

Gaines said “this is a day to celebrate for the miners, but we want to see this through to the end. We will be monitoring AB 120 very closely. California and gold go hand-in-hand and we must honor that rich history of our state.”

Fish & Game Environmental Program Manager Mark Stopher said AB 120’s “key elements are that the current moratorium is extended to June 30, 2016 unless, as before,” Fish & Game completes “its environmental review under CEQA, adopts new regulations and those regulations take effect.”

It adds two new requirements, one being that “significant impacts must be fully mitigated. This appears to be a different standard for approval than we were previously working toward, however, the term ‘fully mitigate’ is not defined in CEQA or the Fish & Game Code.”

Also, “a new fee structure must be in place,” which Stopher said “will require legislation,” and “each new requirement has the potential to affect the substance of the outcome and timing of these efforts.”

Stopher said “we continue to work on the regulations and Final SEIR. Once the outcome of AB 120 is known we will reconsider how this effort will proceed.”

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