BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 670|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 670
Author: Wiggins (D)
Amended: 5/19/09
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE : 8-3, 4/28/09
AYES: Pavley, Benoit, Kehoe, Leno, Padilla, Simitian,
Wiggins, Wolk
NOES: Cogdill, Hollingsworth, Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Vacuum or suction dredge equipment
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill imposes a temporary moratorium on the
granting of new suction dredging permits until the ongoing
environmental review is certified. It provides that the
issuance of permits is not a ministerial act, and that,
therefore, such permits may not be issued until a valid
underlying environmental document is in place.
Senate Floor Amendments of 5/19/09 are technical
clarifications of the process that the Department of Fish
and Game will follow to develop new regulations for the
suction gold mining program it operates, and add
co-authors.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, the Fish and Game Code
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prohibits suction dredging except when permitted by the
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and when consistent with
regulations adopted by the department. The statute
requires the regulations to designate streams where dredges
may be operated pursuant to a permit, streams where
dredging is not allowed, and the time or times of year when
dredging is allowed.
Permit fees for residents are established at $25 unless a
site inspection is necessary in which the fee is $130. The
respective non-resident fees are $100 and $220.
Approximately 3000 permits are issued annually.
It is illegal to use a suction dredge within 100 feet of a
closed area.
This bill imposes a temporary moratorium on the granting of
new suction dredging permits until the ongoing
environmental review is certified. It provides that the
issuance of permits is not a ministerial act, and that,
therefore, such permits may not be issued until a valid
underlying environmental document is in place.
This bill clarifies the process that DFG will follow to
develop new regulations for the suction gold mining
program.
Background
According to a recent report by the Sierra Fund, an
estimated 26 million pounds of mercury were used to extract
gold from ore in California. Half of this mercury was lost
in the environment in placer and hard rock mining
operations where it remains in watersheds where it is
commonly encountered. Mercury runoff from these watersheds
is a source of mercury contamination of the California
Bay-Delta.
Suction dredgers remove gravel from riverbeds with a hose
powered by an engine. The water quality controversy
involves what opponents characterize as the tendency of
dredging operations to "flour" mercury in the water, making
it more readily available for bacteria to methylate, a
process that converts base mercury into a developmental
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neurotoxin that accumulates in the food chain and that
humans ingest through fish that they consume.
Dredgers may try to separate mercury from any amalgamated
gold, and the recovered mercury is then either stored or
disposed of in an unauthorized manner. Storage of mercury
is subject to regulation also, but there is no available
information from state agencies that mercury obtained by
dredgers is regulated.
Dredging permits issued by DFG state that the applicant
will comply with all appropriate water quality regulations.
However, the State Water Resources Control Board does not
have a program to regulate suction dredging.
The board found, however, in a 2003 study, that dredging
exacerbates mercury contamination of rivers and streams.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/19/09)
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Tribal Business Alliance
California Trout
Clean Water Action
Friends of the River
Karuk Tribe
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
Planning and Conservation League
Ramona Band of Cahuilla
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Sierra Club California
Sierra Fund
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/19/09)
County of Siskyou
New 49'ers
Regional Council of Rural Counties
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Many supporters categorize suction
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dredging as a rather crude technology by which miners
"literally vacuum up our river beds and spawning grounds,
and disturb and mobilize the mercury left behind by gold
mining operations" as was stated in several letters. All
of the supporters agree that the rules governing this
practice are outdated.
Sierra Club California and Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations point to the ban on commercial
salmon fishing and argue that the salmon crisis threatens
thousands of jobs. Sierra Club California concludes that
"It simply does not make sense to jeopardize an entire
fishery, and to ask commercial fishermen to sit idle, while
allowing ongoing environmental harm for a recreational
hobby."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Regional Council of Rural
Counties argues that the existing regulations are
sufficiently restrictive and protective and allow
individuals to legally mine their claims of precious
minerals. It points to parts of rural California where
mining remains an important port of the culture, history,
and economy of some local communities. Siskyou County
separately asserted these same concerns.
The New 49'ers, a mining advocacy group, argues that no
scientific information points to suction dredging as a
cause in the collapse of salmon, that the collapse is due
to ocean conditions and an over-reliance on hatchery fish,
and that a moratorium would violate the private property
rights of those who have federal mining claims and create
"takings" liability on the part of the state.
CTW:nl 5/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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