(The wild Chetco River.  Photo:  U.S. Forest Service.)

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality just issued a new general discharge permit for in-stream placer mining, allowing motorized suction dredges in state waters, including critical salmon habitat. 

In this type of mining, developed in the 1960s, sand and gravel is vacuumed from river beds and sifted for minerals, with a portable gas powered pump placed directly into a stream or river.

NPDES 700-PM is one of several permits needed to mine claims on public lands.  The new version, good until 2015, authorizes dredges up to 30-horsepower with suction hoses up to 6-inches in diameter. 

Machines of that size can move up to 25 tons of sediment per hour, and can suck up rocks the size of softballs, according to the CA Department of Fish and Game.  So each individual miner is permitted to dredge up to 25 tons per hour, during daylight hours (roughly 0500 - 1900), each day of a preferred work period that generally last about three months—that’s about 31,500 tons per miner, per season.

(Diagram of a portable suction dredge.  Image:  USFS)

As of July, there were over 1200 miners registered for the 2010 season, and there is an estimated total 3000 dredge miners registered with the Oregon Department of State Lands.

That means Oregon miners are currently permitted to disturb about 37.8 million tons of stream bed in the 2010 summer season.

(The author above Rough and Ready Creek, where many mining claims exist, near O’Brien, Oregon.  Photo:  Stewart Mills.)

Environmentalists fear that this will have a substantial aggregate impact on pristine streams in Oregon’s protected lands, such as the Rogue and Siskiyou National Forests, where there are many claims. 

The operations could conceivably taint water quality with residual chemicals and fuel, raise stream temperatures with sedimentation, conflict with other public land uses like fishing, boating, and backpacking, and disturb stream beds where salmon spawn.

Conversely, certain studies on dredging impacts in Idaho have said that it could benefit fish spawning by loosening gravel and deepening pools of cold water (but with nearly nullifying caveats). 

To improve environmental mitigation and clarify the permitting process, DEQ redrafted NPDES 700-PM, with help from public hearings and comments. 

“There was a lot of repetitive information in that [older] permit,” said Beth Moore, of DEQ, “We tried to say it once and say it clear.”

Here are some of the new permit’s highlights:

Restrictions

- 300 foot downstream limit on visible turbidity (cloudiness).  No turbidity is allowed near drinking water intakes, or in Wilderness areas.  (Miners argue that this effectively prohibits any activity in Wilderness—even walking in a stream creates some visible turbidity.). 

- Fish have to be able to swim past the mining activity.  In the past, multiple dredges could operate adjacently—now, multiple turbidity plumes must not overlap.  Only one motorized device may be operated at a time on each permit, and only during daylight hours.

- Dredges are expressly prohibited in streams listed as “water quality limited for sediment,” under DEQ’s list 303(d), and in Oregon Scenic Waterways.

- In “critical salmon habitat,” suction dredge size is limited to 16-hp and a 4-inch diameter suction hose.  No mining can occur where there are fish eggs.

- Operators can alter in-stream structures (logs, boulders, etc.), but cannot do so on stream banks, nor where it may affect existing structures.

- Fuel and grease must NOT be discharged into water, must NOT reside on equipment surfaces, and must be stored at least 25 feet away from streams’ “wet perimeter.”  Mineral processing cannot include the use of “chemical agents.”

- Mining equipment must be decontaminated from aquatic invasive species.  (This is very important, since many miners travel from as far as Florida to mine in Oregon’s waters.)

Monitoring Requirements

- Permit holders must monitor wastewater discharge at least once daily, and keep a log for 3 years that includes their name, date, location, equipment, and any necessary mitigation of turbidity.

This self-reporting presents an interesting challenge, as noted by one miner at a permit hearing at the Portland DEQ office.  He said,

“You’re allowing us to police ourselves…nobody’s going to fail.”

Penalties

Permit violations can warrant the following maximum penalties,

Civil:                $43,500/day/violation.
2nd offense:      $50,000/day/violation; 2 years imprisonment.
Willful violation:    $200,000; Class B felony; 10 years imprisonment.

(ODEQ, EPA, and Oregon State Police all have enforcement authority per the federal Clean Water Act and ORS 468.140, 468.943, and 468.946.)

Miners argue that theirs is a “beneficial use” of public lands, that it has been an economic, recreational, and cultural boon since the mid 1800s.  Today’s placer mining ranges from sportive hand-panning of old days, to profit-driven dredging on an industrial-scale.

(A typical, portable suction dredge.  Photo:  Oregon Wild.)

A so-called “new gold rush” has hit northeastern and southern Oregon in the last decade, with eager prospectors hunting for various precious metals.  In August 2009, California temporarily banned suction dredge mining (SB 670) pending further environmental impact review, sending droves of prospectors up to try Oregon’s public waters.

So what’s the incumbent burden for Oregon, and how will we respond to ensure protection of our natural areas?

Politicians have seesawed over this amplified risk to Oregon’s protected lands, according to Oregon Wild.  President Clinton froze new mining claims in the Siskiyous, late in his term, a move which President Bush promptly reversed.  Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has sought to reenact it.

But for now, the rush is on, as placer mining season kicked off in mid July.  Motorized operations must be registered at least a month in advance, by mail or online, for an annual $25 fee.

It may be hoped that miners will comply with their “duty to mitigate” adverse environmental impacts on our state’s pristine waters.