SB 670 (WIGGINS)

Dear Assembly Member:

or

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

Please vote no on SB 670 (Wiggins)

  • The EIR-update, ordered by the courts, and subsequently funded by the State, is now underway.

  • The Department of Fish & Game just issued a Decision stating that existing biological information does not justify imposition of Emergency Regulations upon suction dredgers.

  • Suction Dredge Mining has not caused the decline of the salmon population along the California Coast. None of the reports on the decline of the Salmon population issued blame upon suction dredge mining.

  • The 1994 EIR found that suction dredging under existing regulations provide positive impacts; among other things, creating additional salmon spawning habitat by loosening concretized river gravels. Salmon runs are on the upswing in the Klamath River.

  • There is no scientific evidence to support shutting down a legal and legitimate industry across the State of California before an update of the existing the EIR is completed, particularly when prior studies fail to demonstrate any link between local salmon populations and suction dredge mining.

  • Suction dredge mining is already limited in California to a short season that keeps the miners out of the rivers and streams when salmon redds are present (where the eggs are deposited). There is no suction dredging allowed when salmon are spawning. There is no suction dredging allowed on the Sacramento River, where salmon populations are presently in decline.

  • A moratorium on suction dredge gold mining in California will violate the private property rights of thousands of Californians who have federal mining claims along the rivers and streams, and will likely result in very significant “takings” liability against the State.

  • The average small scale dredge-miner spends thousands of dollars per month when mining. Much of this money is spent in local, rural economies like Siskiyou County where mining is popular. Tax revenues generated from expenditures such as fuel, groceries, camping, and mining supplies, means that rural counties and the State of California benefit as well.

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