Prospectordemon, last post i swear, Rep Gaines trying to help

[2cmorau]

prospectordemon i would like to suggest reading Mel Fisher Bio
What ever happen to the good neighbor policy?

Ted Gaines

More on sacbee.com powered by Lingospot

Dredging ban steals property rights
Share

By Ted Gaines

Published: Sunday, Jun. 12, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3E
Re "A smart budget trim will help water quality" (Editorial, June 3):

The Bee's editorial regarding the five-year moratorium on gold mining is misinformed and misguided. The temporary ban, and the budget trick that would make it permanent, are clear examples of government overreach and violations of private property rights.

Contrary to the editorial's assertion about mercury in the water as a result of gold mining, actually mercury is naturally attracted to the gold that is lifted from the riverbeds during the dredging process. Gold mining can only remove mercury from the water. And while the one- or two-man operations do stir up river bottoms a bit, the runoff from this winter's massive snowpack will dislodge and move around more sand, gravel and silt than the few thousand miners will move in a lifetime.

If the faulty claim of environmental damage were not enough to disqualify the moratorium on its own, the assault on private property rights should end the argument. A mining claim is not just a relic of California's proud gold mining history, it is a property right legally secured by every miner. The state's unfair moratorium is a taking of property in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The private property the state is trying to snatch from the miners is significant. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, the 3,500 miners capture about $20 million in gold each year. This is money being taken from California families who depend on it for their livelihoods or to supplement their incomes. Perhaps ending the program is not such a "smart budget trim" in light of these facts.

The effort to kill off California's foundational industry is a huge government overreach that ignores the reality of river use in California. I've visited my in-laws in Downieville dozens of times, and have seen fishermen and gold miners sharing the river with no conflict. Why all the concern now? Is it because environmental extremists have deemed gold mining politically incorrect and therefore dispensable? It is a typical response from the environmental community to disallow any use of the environment that doesn't fit their narrow definition of how humans should interact with nature.

This moratorium is an attack on rural California. It is an attack on common Americans who want to make their living from California's signature resource, and I will fight to make sure that they can chase their dreams of hitting pay dirt just like the 49ers did at the birth of this state. Don't tread on the gold miners.





http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/12/369...#ixzz1P6KO9c3g

[russau]

this moritorium is more than a attack on rual Californians! its a attack on ALL AMERICANS Congressionally given rights to find these nobal metals! to not join in in this fight for our rights, is the same (to me) as spitting on our flag!do your part in this fight for our rights!

[pvillehunter]

20 million divided by 3500. is like 5714.28 per miner......barely a supplamental income......even for a retiree......ans is that net or gross... and are we really listening to dfg numbers?......and how in the ELL....would fish and game know when i was dredging only my partner new what we were getting.....just like most miners we dont really like to let on what were gettin good or not!!!!!!!! I wanna wanna dredde think the Ban is B.S. and have sent in a letter to everyone who needs it so remember that before jumpin on me.....im not shotting down the info Plane...I just want good hard relavent facts from both sides...BTW.... if true that 20 mil isnt evenly split between 3500(average permits)..........a small % of good prospectors take the majority.....and those are the guys you almost never hear from.the rest barely break even.

[2cmorau]

UPDATE- 6:10 PM PT- Wednesday June 15, 2011

http://www.westernminingalliance.org/

The vote came down today in the Assembly, straight down party lines 52 votes for the 5 year moratorium vs 26 against. So at this point it is in the Governor's hands to veto it. From what I hear we have been having an effect with all our calls and faxes. Every time I have called both the Assembly and the Senate they all knew about the dredging bill- the only problem with this vote was it was straight along the party line. I guess the Republicans didn't stand a chance. Ted Gaines and John Malfa gave it their best.

It's not yet time to throw in the towels, until the Governor decides what to do, we can still fax info into his office. So we are down to the wire; that means we need to keep calling and flood his office with faxes and phone calls in regards to how this moratorium will crimp California's economy by up to $100M this year alone. This is not the time to be putting hard working small miners out of work! Tell him to let the DFG process continue.

Thanks for the effort you guys & gals!

[russau]

yep i do beleive that gains and mafs gave it their best! trouble is that we (the small scale mining community didnt give it theri all or their best! only a few did their part and then some! the rest os "us" didnt bother to lift a finger to help in any way! infact sdome gotr in the way and spread misinformation which didnt help 1 bit! if we dont fight for it ,we dont deserve it has proven tobe a true statement again! for those that didnt help out, im just waiting for the time they sat something about this, then i can and will say "i told you so!"