“Suction dredge mining recklessly tears up rivers, threatens our waterways and harms imperiled salmon,” said Jonathan Evans, environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Suction dredge mining pollutes waterways with mercury and sediment and destroys sensitive habitat for important and imperiled wildlife, including salmon and steelhead, California red-legged frogs and sensitive migratory songbirds. It threatens important cultural resources and sensitive wildlife species, and the California Native American Heritage Commission has condemned its threats to irreplaceable tribal and archeological resources. Suction dredge mining typically uses gas- or diesel-powered machines to vacuum up gravel and sand from streams and river bottoms in search of gold.
Now the courts have clarified California’s authority to regulate this destructive hobby.” “We pressed California to develop stronger protections for our fish, water and cultural sites only to have mining groups sue. “Suction dredge mining is a continuation of the genocidal legacy of goldminers that started over 150 years ago,” said Leaf Hillman, the Karuk tribe’s director of natural resources. The court’s rejection of the request, effectively upholding California’s role in regulating small-scale gold mining, is an important victory for fish, water quality and tribal cultural sites. Supreme Court today rejected a request from recreational gold miners to overturn a California Supreme Court decision upholding a statewide moratorium on recreational suction dredge mining. Craig Tucker, Karuk Tribe, (916) 207-8294, Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (213) 598-1466, Wright, Friends of the River, (916) 442-3155 x 207, Supreme Court Slams Door on California Suction Dredge MinersĬalifornia Moratorium on Suction Dredge Mining for Gold Remains in Effect
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