BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 637 (Allen) - Suction dredge mining: permits.
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|Version: May 5, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 6 - 1, |
| | E.Q. 5 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 28, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill
Summary: SB 637 would require the State Water Resources Control
Board (board) to establish a permitting process by July 1, 2017
for suction dredge mining and relating mining activities in the
rivers and streams of the state. The Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) would be prohibited from issuing a permit for a
vacuum or suction dredge unless the application is complete,
which would include any necessary permits from the board.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 28, 2015):
A minimum of $450,000 to $600,000 annually for the first two
years from Waste Discharge Permit Fund (special) to the board
to develop permit.
Unknown ongoing costs to the Waste Discharge Permit Fund
(special) to the board to administer the permit.
Unknown one-time costs likely in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars from the Safe Drinking Water Account to the board to
update other related regulations to allow the discharge of
mercury.
SB 637 (Allen) Page 1 of
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Background: Suction dredge mining was initially regulated in California
because of its impacts on fish and aquatic life. To date,
because of this history, DFW is the only state agency with
explicit authority over this activity.
Existing law currently places a moratorium on the issuance of
suction dredge permits by DFW. The conditions of this moratorium
have evolved over the years. In 2009, the moratorium was first
establishes as a temporary measure until DFW (then Department of
Fish and Game) conducted an environmental review of suction
dredge mining, which was consistent with a court injunction
order. In February 2011, DFW released draft regulations and a
draft EIR. In that same year, the Legislature, through a budget
trailer bill (AB 120), extended the moratorium until 2016 to
give DFW time to establish a fee structure to cover all of its
administrative costs. In 2012, the Legislature hinged the end of
the moratorium on the development of the fee and required DFW to
report to the Legislature on required statutory changes or
authorizations necessary to implement suction dredge mining
permits. That report was submitted to the Legislature on April
1, 2013.
The board's comments to DFW's suction dredge mining EIR identify
two significant and unavoidable water quality impacts of suction
dredge mining: (1) mercury resuspension and discharge, and (2)
the effects from resuspension and the discharge of other trace
metals, such as copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, chromium, and
arsenic.
Proposed Law:
This bill would require the board to establish a permitting
process by July 1, 2017 for suction dredge mining and relating
mining activities in the rivers and streams of the state. The
regulations would be required to address, at a minimum,
cumulative and water quality impacts of mercury loading in
downstream affected by suction dredge mining, methylmercury
formation, and bioaccumulation of mercury in aquatic
environments.
DFW would be prohibited from issuing a permit for a vacuum or
suction dredge unless the application is complete, which would
include any necessary permits from the board.
SB 637 (Allen) Page 2 of
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Staff
Comments: The board estimates preliminarily that it would
require at least three to four positions and two years to draft
the permit, which would including workshops, meetings with
stakeholders, and responding to comments. This is a preliminary
estimate because the board is still trying to establish the
parameters of the likely permit.
Once the permit is developed, the board will likely have costs
to administer and enforce the permit. However, these costs are
unknown as it will depend on the terms of the permit. For
example if the permit is discretionary, and therefore subject to
CEQA, ongoing costs are likely to be significant, though CEQA
costs should be recoverable from the applicant. Staff notes that
the bill does not give the board the ability to charge a permit
fee to cover its administrative costs.
The board notes that it has existing regulations that prohibit
the discharge of mercury, which would conflict with the proposed
suction dredge mining permit. To the extent that the permit
would allow some, presumably limited and mitigated, amount of
mercury to be discharged by a suction dredge miner, the board
would need to update its existing regulations and thereby
incurring regulatory costs. At this time, the board is still
reviewing the regulations that may need to be revised and
therefore the costs to update regulations as needed are unknown.
However, these costs are potentially in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that it has no
costs associated with the changes proposed by this bill.
Author amendments (as adopted on May 28, 2015): Amend to make
development of the board's permit contingent upon DFW's
completion of required activities.
SB 637 (Allen) Page 3 of
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