Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
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We Won! Today (June 16th), Alameda Superior Court Judge Sabraw issued a http://www.goldgold.com/legal/2nd001.pdf written Order denying Motions from both the Karuk Tribe and Department of Fish & Game (DFG) to enter a Judgment affirming the Stipulated Agreement which would have shortened or eliminated important suction dredge seasons in Siskiyou County, California! We have devoted a http://www.goldgold.com/legal/karukvsdfg.htm special page to this litigation that can be found on our http://www.goldgold.com/ web site. Judge Sabraw’s written Decision found that “…the Stipulated Judgment proposed by the Plaintiff and Department is contrary to law and public policy, and denies the motion on those ground as well.” The Judge’s Decision accepted important arguments made by our attorneys, finding: “The injunction would essentially operate as promulgation of new regulations on suction dredging, without such regulations having been subjected, as required by law, to the public notice and hearing requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Administrative Procedures Act.” According to Department of Fish & Game (DFG) officials in both the Redding and Eureka offices earlier this week, DFG had not intended to enforce the 2006 amended suction dredge regulations upon gold dredgers this season unless the judge endorsed their Stipulated Agreement. DFG wardens have been telling dredgers along the Scott and Klamath Rivers during this past week that they may dredge according to the original 2005 dredge regulations, as long as they possess a valid 2006 dredging permit. Several people are already dredging. The wardens have checked them for 2006 permits, and have told them they would be allowed 24 hours to conform to the amended regulations in the event that the judge endorsed them. As the Judge has decided that the Stipulated Agreement was contrary to law, we are assuming that the amended regulations are now void. Our attorneys will be contacting DFG attorneys early next week about withdrawing the amended regulations altogether to avoid further confusion. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this magnificent effort. Together, we have won another very important victory! This was not only about mining. It was about whether or not a State agency has the power to bypass the public process by going into private agreement with radical environmental interests. They don't! We should all pause for a moment and take a deep breath. Whew! Our attorneys did a really good job on this. But it never would have happened without all the help that we received from various supporters from the community and multiple other prospecting organizations who have contributed to the effort! Hooray for our side! All the best, Dave Mack |
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