Senate Joint Resolution No. 3

Introduced by Senator McGuire

(Principal coauthor: Senator Pavley)

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Wood)

(Coauthor: Senator Leno)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Dodd, Levine, Mark Stone, and Williams)

January 21, 2015

Senate Joint Resolution No. 3—Relative to the Smith River watershed.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 3, as introduced, McGuire. Smith River watershed protection.

This measure would urge the President of the United States and Congress to permanently safeguard the currently unprotected North Fork of the Smith River watershed in Oregon from any mining activities that would have the potential impacts on water supplies, economies, or the environment in California’s portion of the Smith River watershed.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Smith River watershed of approximately 610
square miles in California and 115 square miles in Oregon is
considered the prize of the California wild and scenic river system
since it was included in the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
in 1972, and then later included in the Federal Wild and Scenic
Rivers System in 1981; and

WHEREAS, The Smith River is the indirect primary source of
drinking water for the majority of Del Norte County’s 28,000
residents, with the largest user being the City of Crescent City;
and

WHEREAS, The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and
the City Council of Crescent City have voted unanimously to
oppose the issuance of a limited water use license for the Cleopatra
Check Drilling Program based on the potential to cause significant
adverse environmental impacts within the overall watershed of the
Smith River and subsequent impacts on drinking water for residents
and thousands of annual visitors; and

WHEREAS, The California North Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Natural
Resources Agency and the Oregon Water Resources Department
have also opposed any mining within the Smith River watershed
because of the detrimental effects of strip mining; and

WHEREAS, The Smith River is unparalleled for its free flowing
status, large and abundant salmon and steelhead stock, and
extraordinary botanical diversity, and is the only major undammed
river in California; and

WHEREAS, The Smith River National Recreation Area Act,
passed by the 101st United States Congress in 1990 (Public Law
101-612), amended the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 and
permanently protected all federal lands of the Smith River
watershed within California by establishing the Smith River
National Recreation Area; and

WHEREAS, The Oregon portion of the North Fork of the Smith
River was not included in the act and remains vulnerable to mining;
and

WHEREAS, Any strip mining activities on the North Fork of
the Smith River could have devastating and irreversible impacts
to the entire National Wild and Scenic Smith River Watershed;
and

WHEREAS, In 2012, Red Flat Nickel Corporation submitted
the Cleopatra Check Drilling Mining Plan for the watershed of the
North Fork of the Smith River to the Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest, with the goals to develop and operate a devastating
3,980 acre strip mine to extract nickel, cobalt, and chromium; and

WHEREAS, The proposed mining operations will unnecessarily
put the people and wildlife that rely on the Smith River at risk;
and

WHEREAS, The United States Environmental Protection
Agency has confirmed that hard rock mining, which includes strip
mining, is the largest source of toxic pollution in the United States;
and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture’s
Technical Guide to Managing Groundwater Resources documents
numerous published reports concerning the release of toxic metals
to ground water and surface water resulting from mines and
mine-related facilities; and

WHEREAS, Mining operations along the tributaries of the Smith
River would inevitably impact water quality and quantity with the
potential to cause significant injury to fish and other wildlife,
including threatened coho salmon; and

WHEREAS, The Smith River’s coho salmon are protected under
the federal Endangered Species Act and are recognized as a core
independent population with a high risk of extinction; and

WHEREAS, The Smith River is one of California’s most
important, irreplaceable watersheds for the threatened coho salmon;
and

WHEREAS, The Chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, and steelhead
runs are vitally important to the economies and environment of
northern California and Oregon; and

WHEREAS, Millions of federal, state, and private dollars have
been spent in the past decades on improving water supply systems
and for restoration and protection of salmonid habitat and
watershed lands downstream from the proposed mining operations;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President of the
United States and Congress to permanently safeguard the currently
unprotected North Fork of the Smith River watershed in Oregon
from any mining activities that would have potential impacts on
water supplies, economies, or the environment in California’s
portion of the Smith River watershed; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.