About suction dredging in California:
As all of you are probably aware, there is a moratorium on suction dredging in California. This was passed predominantly by Liberal Democrats and was supposed to be “temporary” until they could determine if dredging is harmful to anadramous fish (salmon) and other aquatic species through the SEIR (supplemental environmental impact report). Even though a very lengthy and costly study was completed in 1997 by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), this wasn’t good enough so they passed this temporary moratorium to have another study done at tax payer expense.
The results came back conclusively a second time that suction dredging has a “less than significant” impact on fish and fish habitat. This is DFG’s way of saying it does not hurt fish.
Did this lift the moratorium? NO. Do they plan to lift it? NO. They have taken it a step further in fact by enacting an “emergency action” stopping the use of non-motorized dredging (this was the use of a gravity dredge) because several miners found that they could get around the moratorium by eliminating one of the three elements which previously defined a dredge, a motor, a suction nozzle and a sluice. They simply eliminated the motor and used gravity (and a very long pipe to give water pressure at the intake).
We could include numerous other studies performed by peer reviewed biologists, scientists and professionals but you get the point. They now are switching to “dredging stirs up mercury” when in fact dredging with a standard Keene or Proline dredge removes 97% of the mercury in the rivers and streams. If mercury is being stirred up by dredging, why did the government just grant over a million dollars to the Sierra Fund (an uber liberal environmental group) to dredge for mercury? Their dredge only collects 93% of the mercury, while ours collects substantially more. Oh, by the way, they also claim they will throw the gold back into the river since it is not a toxin……..
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, before the opposition party really got going and infiltrated many of our regulatory agencies, USFS would call the gold clubs, groups and associations asking the members to come dredge the waters after a forest fire because they wanted the fish to come back. See, back then, they knew how beneficial dredging was to our waterways, now it is about an agenda.
We all have to admit at some point this isn’t about the fish, it isn’t about the frog, the pink butted squirrel or some other species they believe will help them advance their narrative. It is about control and the taking of rights. Ask Cliven Bundy (the Nevada rancher in the news) if his property is about the turtle…..while BLM is killing over a thousand of them held in captivity because they lack the funds to take care of them. Ask yourself this: Why don’t they spend the money on the turtles instead of sending armed Rangers from the western states to make people stand in a “First Amendment Zone” to voice their opinions? The last time we checked, the first Amendment isn’t a roped off 100 square foot place, it is our entire country and we are free to speak out and openly address our Government for a redress of our grievances. Why don’t they spend some of the tens of millions of dollars on the turtle that they are spending on gates to keep us off our own public lands?
We all have to make choices in life, some are good, some are bad. We choose to speak out, because without the truth, without honor, integrity and morals, we become countries we have read about in history books.
AMRA is not advocating for anyone to violate the law if that is what the moratorium is. So at what point does a so called law become so blatantly obvious that it is oppressive, destructive and designed to take away the ability to make a living, feed your family and chase the American dream? If I can make money off of our own pubic lands on a federal mining claim in a safe, environmentally beneficial way and keep from taking handouts from the government, then why would anyone stop this?
This isn’t about fish, frogs or turtles, it is about control. And that is just the simple truth.
What is it going to take for you to join AMRA and help us fight for your rights?