Klamath miners granted intervention status 021106

Dave just posted this on the New 49'ers forums.

Jim
_________________________

Hi Guys,

The judge's Order granting Intervention status to miners in the litigation concerning our California dredging regulations was made final on 9 February. This allows us to participate in the ongoing litigation.

We have created a special page on our web site that includes explanations and the most important documents concerning this case.

The judge's Order also ruled that since the miners are new Parties within the litigation, it would be improper for her to rule on an earlier motion to endorse the Stipulated Agreement between the Karuks and DFG to resolve the litigation. While she said that she would entertain a new motion about this, she made it clear that the Karuks and DFG would be required to prove that the Stipulated Agreement is just, is not contrary to public policy, and does not incorporate an erroneous rule of law.

We feel very strongly that the proposed Stipulated Agreement does not meet any of these requirements.

As we anticipate that the Karuks and DFG will motion the Court to accept their Agreement, our attorneys are already preparing for our response. We have begun by serving both the Karuks and DFG with formal Discovery demands. As you may recall, up until now, both DFG and the Karuks have refused to provide us with the biological data which supports their Agreement. Now that we are Parties to the litigation, it seems reasonable that they should be required to allow us access to the information which supports their positions.

DFG's position in the litigation, by the way, is that pre-existing regulations have afforded adequate protection for the Coho salmon. So it is going to be interesting to establish how they are justifying a decision to reduce our dredging seasons. There was some dialog in the hearing last week that perhaps both the Karuks and DFG will try and block our Discovery demands. So we may have to go around with them in court just to get at the specific information they are using to justify their positions in this litigation.

As hard as it is to believe, DFG has taken the position that they ought to be able to reduce our seasons in a secret agreement with the Karuks without ever having to justify the reasons to anyone. What's wrong with that picture?

There have been several questions and comments posted on the various forums about DFG telling dredgers on the phone that they intend to enforce the new regulations upon miners even if the judge in this case does not endorse the Stipulated Agreement. I suggest that people should not become too alarmed by these statements. The State does not hove the power to enforce regulations which have not been adopted pursuant to the California Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

These regulatory changes certainly were not adopted pursuant to APA and CEQA. That is a big part of our objections in front of the Court.

In the present litigation, DFG’s position is that they can skirt around the provisions of CEQA by making a court settlement, even though they are arguing in court that they have already been affording adequate protections to fish without making a settlement agreement with the Karuks.

CEQA was implemented to prevent arbitrary and capricious actions from State officials, while providing reasonable protections for the environment.

We don’t really see how DFG can expect to have it both ways: (1) Argue that they have been protecting the fish just fine under the pre-existing regulations; and, (2) Argue that they have the right to reduce our dredging seasons to afford additional protection to settle the unproven allegations made by the Karuks.

No matter what story DFG is telling the public right now about what they plan to do, my best guess is that if the judge will not endorse the Stipulated Agreement, DFG will be forced to withdraw its regulatory changes as we see them today. Likely, they will have to begin a new CEQA process to address any perceived needs (if any) for changes to our regulations. Anything short of that would probably not hold up to our challenges in court.

Let's just take things one step at a time. The first step was to gain Party status in the litigation. We have done that. The next step is to challenge any attempt to reduce our dredging seasons that does not follow the lawful process in California. We are working on that now. Then we will challenge any attempt by DFG to enforce regulations which have not been adopted pursuant to the laws. But I doubt the 3rd step will be necessary.

Meanwhile, since the dredging season is still a long way off, I suggest you guys hold off on buying a 2006 dredging permit in California until we see how all this is going to settle out. There is still plenty of time.

Hang tough, you guys. I believe the law is on our side on this one.

All the best,

Dave Mack