OCTOBER 28, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
NOTE: 1ST HOUR -
STEVE PEARCE 2ND HOUR IS WITH TOM KITCHAR ON
DREDGE MINING
JUMP TO
|
Fighting the Feds and Enviros? |
Chairman of the
Western Caucus |
www.westerncaucus.pearce.house.gov |
|
www.Pearce.House.gov
|
Today's first guest:
NM Congressman Steve Pearce |
|
U.S.
CONGRESSMAN STEVE PEARCE |
About Steve
Pearce
Steve Pearce was born in 1947 to a large working-class family.
He was raised in Hobbs, New Mexico, where his father worked as a
roustabout, selling vegetables on the side of the road to make
ends meet. With six children to feed, times were often hard in
the Pearce household, but his upbringing has made it easy for
Steve to relate to the hardworking people of southern New
Mexico.
Steve attended New Mexico public schools his entire life, and
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from New Mexico
State University and an MBA from Eastern New Mexico University.
During the Vietnam War, Steve served as a combat pilot, flying
over 518 hours of combat flight and 77 hours of combat support.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air
Medals, as well as seven other military medals and four
exceptional service awards. Steve continued service at
Blytheville Air Force Base in the Arkansas, and attained the
rank of Captain. |
CONTINUED AT:
http://pearce.house.gov/about-me/full-biography |
|
ISSUES |
Border Security
I am working to advocate
human solutions that reflect the sensitivity of border security
issues. This is a complex issue, and all related groups must be
engaged in the process of developing a strong policy for border
security. |
Congressional Issues
Information related to
Issues concerning Congress itself. |
Defense and National Security
We must maintain a strong
military that continues to be second to none, and support the
brave men and women who risk their lives for our freedoms. |
Economy and Jobs
Jobs are my top priority in
Congress. By giving Americans the freedom to work, we can
increase our nation’s income, reduce our debt, and put America
back on the road to financial recovery. |
Education
We need strong education
policy to prepare our next generation of leaders to face the
challenges of tomorrow. |
Energy
Energy is a key focus of
jobs in southern New Mexico. I am working to encourage a broad
approach that creates jobs and lowers the costs to our families,
while reducing our dependence on foreign energy. |
Financial Services
As a member of the
Financial Services Committee, I am working to ensure strong
policy to grow our economy and protect jobs on Main Street. |
Health Care
I am working to reverse the
government takeover of healthcare and support careful, specific
legislation that will help you get affordable access to the
healthcare you need. |
Spending Cuts and Debt
In Congress, I am working
to get Washington to stop spending money we don’t have on
programs we don’t need. |
Tax Reform
We must hold Washington
accountable to responsibly spend your tax dollars. |
Veterans
The sacrifices made by
America’s servicemen and servicewomen must never be forgotten.
Veterans’ issues are a top priority for my work in Congress. |
|
REF:
http://pearce.house.gov/issues
|
|
Today's second guest:
Tom Kitchar |
Mining Districts,
historically, were generally the first forms of government in
the western states simply because it was usually miners that
first settled the west. With no other law or government
for hundreds of miles, it was the miners & prospectors
themselves that made their own laws, rules & regulations that
were followed within the various districts. (Mining
Districts usually were no larger that the area that could be
covered in a day on horseback, or on foot). Later, in the
1860’s & 1870’s, Congress, when they finally passed a nationwide
Mining Law, recognized the Districts as some form of government
entity, with the authority to regulate mining within the
District as long as the District rules did not interfere with
state or federal laws. |
|
The description of Waldo
(below) was copied from a brief sent to the U.S. Supreme Court
as part of a “friend of the court” letter in support of the
appeal filed by the New 49ers of the recent (bad) 9th Circuit
decision (the decision KS Wild is relying on in their recent
suit). |
|
DESCRIPTION: |
The Waldo Mining District
was established on April 1, 1852, in the Oregon
Territory and is recognized as the first government
in southwest Oregon. The District is an
unincorporated association of miners, roughly half
of whom hold one or more mining claims within the
Siskiyou or other national forests. Historically,
and pursuant to the Mining Law of 1872, 30 U.S.C.
§ 22, et seq., mining
districts were considered government entities, and
could make binding rules and regulations within
their jurisdictions. Today, one of the principal
purposes of the District is to promote the interests
of its approximately 125 members, many of whom the
United States Forest Service has characterized as
finding their livelihood, recreation and , for some,
their identity, in suction dredge mining.
|
The District is located in
Cave Junction, Oregon, just across the border from
Happy Camp, California, the site of this
controversy. The Ninth Circuit's decision will
indefinitely halt the dredging operations of many of
the District's members. While they await the
completion of the consultation process, members will
not be able to work the claims that they own, nor
will prospectors be permitted to explore for new
claims using suction dredging. These undesirable
effects will ensue notwithstanding that suction
dredging is the most efficient method to recover
gold from underwater streambed sediments.
|
|
|
About the lawsuit
REF:
http://www.mailtribune.com/ |
Three environmental groups
are suing the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest for allegedly
failing to protect threatened coho salmon from suction dredgers
mining for gold in the Rogue River Basin's coho country.
Filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford, the suit seeks
to require that NOAA-Fisheries biologists review suction
dredging operations here to ensure they don't harm wild coho and
their habitat before miners can operate on forest-managed
streams.
The suit maintains that these reviews, called consultations, are
required under the federal Endangered Species Act before
dredgers can operate on federally designated wild coho habitat.
That includes reaches of the Rogue and its tributaries
accessible to coho, which were listed here as a threatened
species in 1997.
Forest Service officials, however, did not undertake these
consultations before approving suction dredging operations that
could illegally damage wild coho spawning and rearing habitat,
the suit states.
The suit comes on the heels of a June 1 ruling by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals that any Forest Service actions that
impact wild coho must go through the consultation process with
NOAA-Fisheries.
"If the Forest Service is going to say 'mine here' or 'don't
mine here,' they have to follow the requirements of the
Endangered Species Act," says George Sexton, conservation
director of the Ashland-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center,
one of the plaintiffs in the case.
"There's a step here, consultation, that we're asking them to
do," Sexton said.
The suit further seeks to ban suction dredging on Rogue
River-Siskiyou forest streams until the consultations are
completed.
The suit was filed "so mining on public lands is focused on
areas where it does the least harm to endangered salmon," Sexton
said.
"I think it's a values clash," he said. "It comes down to what
people value public lands for."
Forest spokeswoman Virginia Gibbons declined Tuesday to comment
on the lawsuit, which Forest Service officials were reviewing.
Gibbons also declined to discuss any aspect of the forest's
dredging program, including how many miners were authorized to
dredge each of the past three years and how many miners were
denied operation.
Cascadia Wildlands and the Ashland-based Rogue Riverkeeper
groups joined the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center as
plaintiffs in the suit. The civil case was assigned to U.S.
District Court Judge Owen Panner.
— Mark Freeman |
|
Dredge Mining
isn't doing too good in Californ-I-ay |
|
http://articles.latimes.com/ |
|
Websites mentioned on
today's program: |
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121026/NEWS02/210260306
|
http://westernminingalliance.org/ |
www.oregongold.net/tag/tom-kitchar/ |
NOTE: check this website
out:
www.DailyJobCuts.com |
|