Suction Dredge Mining our creeks…still?

[Greg Armstrong]

I just received this in my inbox. I thought Washington just passed a law to join the other western states to disallow this?

WA Wild Coordinates Letter Calling for Due Diligence from State Agencies - Washington Wild

The recent approval of a recreational mining permit raises concerns about whether this approval adheres to the 2020 law banning motorized suction dredge mining in critical salmon and steelhead habitat.

wawild.org

 

[Matt B]

I just received this in my inbox. I thought Washington just passed a law to join the other western states to disallow this?

WA Wild Coordinates Letter Calling for Due Diligence from State Agencies - Washington Wild

The recent approval of a recreational mining permit raises concerns about whether this approval adheres to the 2020 law banning motorized suction dredge mining in critical salmon and steelhead habitat.

wawild.org

RCW 90.48.615: Motorized or gravity siphon aquatic mining—Prohibited acts.

It seems like the motivated suction dredge miners found some loopholes if you want to call them that, one of which being that WDFW is happy to issue an HPA permit to install a pump to withdraw water from a closed basin to a miner with no water right, since it’s a different state agency in charge of water rights, that being Ecology. And WDFW has the LEOs, but they don’t look at water rights, and the watermasters at ECY who do inspect water rights are focused on big water withdrawals like Ag diversions, not the miners out in remote areas. It’s not a new story—the state agencies will not coordinate, enforcement is lacking, and the resource suffers as a result.

 

[SilverFly]

Sounds like a typical gubermint fustercluck. What part of WFDW isn't Ecology on a larger level?

So I could get thrown in jail for dynamite fishing a stream, but get a permit to trash the stream bed and clog spawning gravels with silt.

 

[Matt B]

Sounds like a typical gubermint fustercluck. What part of WFDW isn't Ecology on a larger level?

So I could get thrown in jail for dynamite fishing a stream, but get a permit to trash the stream bed and clog spawning gravels with silt.

Well to be fair, not exactly, it’s a little complicated, but the fustercluck part is correct in my estimation. It seems pretty obvious that you should first have to show having a water right in the Wenatchee basin in order to get a permit to install a pump to pump water out of a headwater stream that is closed to new withdrawals.