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Portland Environmental Group is Threatening to Sue a Local Treasure-hunting Club
2004-05-11 |
Hi to Everyone: The information on this website below has been forwarded to me by our Director of Public Land Issues Larry Armstrong as it affects small-time gold miners who could be facing a suit from an environmental group.
The story comes from the Associated Press
Dated 5/8/2004, 12:08 a.m. PT
HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) - A Portland environmental group is threatening to sue a local treasure-hunting club, unless it cancels a summer gold-mining expedition.
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center sent a letter on April 16 to the Pacific Northest Treasure Hunters Association, alleging that the Hermiston-based club is violating the Clean Air Act.
The environmental group says each of the roughly 40 club members could be subject to a fine up to $27,000.
The Treasure hunters Association consists mostly of retirees who enjoy gold mining and metal detecting.
Each summer, the club spends about two days camping along the North Fork John Day River near Ukiah. They mine for gold on a two-mile-long claim staked with the state several years ago.
Club members use a five-horsepower pump and a 2 1/2 inch dredge nozzle to suck up debris in the crevices of large rocks. Last summer they found "about a penny weight of gold," group president Al Hansen said, roughly one-20th of an ounce.
The issue is over the club's permits, which were issued by the state Department of Environmental Quality unil March 2002.
When those permits expired, the agency sent the small-time miners a so-called "mutual agreement and order." That allowed club members to pursue their hobby until a new permit could be approved.
Although the order provides a certain amount of legal protection for the agency, it does not protect the miners from a third-party lawsuit, said Scott Manzano, a permit specialist with the department.
The Northwest Environmental Defence Center has a long history of filing litigation. It was established in 1969 by a group of professors, law students and alumni of the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College.
In February, the group sent letters to 10 state agencies, saying it believes that suction dredge mining damages streambeds and river banks, and destroys wildlife habitat. It argued that Oregon leaves many miners unregulated and unmonitored.
A severe regulatory oversight gap exists for suction dredge mining in Oregon," center member Brian Pietruszewski wrote.
The group gave the state agencies until April 7 to correct the problems, but they didn't respond with any particular action.
Both the Department of Environmental and the Bureau of State Lands are in the process of developing a new permit to cover the miners, Manzano said. That permit is expected by December 2005.
The Northwest Environmental Defense Center also sent letters threatening lawsuits to about 1,600 other recreational miners across the state.
The cases we initiate are never frivolous and are always well-supported," said Mark Riskedahl, executive director of the group.
But Hansen, the president of the treasure hunters, insists the miners are innocent.
We're in compliance with all the rules, all the laws. They're using scare tactics," he said. "We view this letter as a letter of extortion."
Thanks to those who have forwarded the article to us -- we have now contacted Jerry Hobbs with Public Lands for the People who was alerted as soon as the news broke. He will keep us informed as PLP has been working with both groups and individuals in Oregon for the past 3 weeks to come up with a solution. Apparently Dave McCracken of California was also served with the 60 day notice as well.
Please forward to your gold prospecting and metal detecting friends as it could affect all of us in the hobby.
Thanks,
Carolyn Garrett
AMDA's Chairperson
Original Article is here:
www.oregonlive.com
Carolyn Garrett
AMDA's Chairperson
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American Metal Detectors Assn.
CGarrettwc@aol.com
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