Another Defeat for Suction Dredge Mining

Suction dredge mining foes are celebrating the news that an addition to the California budget bill will  extend indefinitely a moratorium on the controversial practice.

The recent budget action is the latest in a string of defeats for so-called recreational mining. Backed by key state legislators, opponents of dredging have prevented suction dredges from operating in California waters since December 2006.

LINK (via: Klamblog)

Dredge miners strike environmentalist's ire

The suction dredge mining fight moves to Idaho.

The Boise-based Idaho Conservation League wants the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce long-neglected federal pollution laws that would, if they were followed, shut down recreational river mining in Idaho, at least for this summer.

LINK (Via: The Republic)

Suction dredge mining essentially dead in California.

Mr. Kriege said that the dredges’ impact on the riverbed was “like fluffing a pillow”

GOLD HILL, Ore. — When four dams on the Rogue River here were scheduled for removal, environmentalists predicted many benefits: more salmon and steelhead swimming upriver to spawn; more gravel carried downriver to replenish the riverbed; more rafters bobbing along 57 miles of newly opened water. 

What they didn't count on was an influx of New 49'ers, suction dredgers looking to sift through the tons of gravel for the gold once hidden behind the dams.

LINK (Via: The NY Times)