The dredges also can kick up sediment and disturb cultural sites, according to state officials. Miners, however, say the dredges remove toxic metals. The mercury then gets into the food chain, causing a buildup of methylmercury in fish, according to the state. Much of the concern centers around dredges kicking up mercury from stream beds. Suction dredge mining has been prohibited in the state since 2009 because state officials are concerned about the environmental effects of the practice, which involves using a pump to suck materials from the bottom of a stream and run it through a sluice to separate gold. The rest disagreed with the premise that suction dredge mining harms the environment or fish. Out of the more than 30 commenters at the meeting, only one person in the audience spoke in favor of the permits.
“What prohibitions should be applied? I say none.” There is no harm from suction dredging,” he said. “Should certain protective practices be required? No. “Should the state Water Board issue a permit? Emphatically no!” said James Foley, who lives along the Klamath River in Siskiyou County. Water Board staff members held a workshop in Redding on Wednesday to take comment on whether the state should issue the permits, under what conditions and what miners would be required to do to offset potential environmental harm done by the mining. Under the law passed in 2015, the California Water Board is required to issue permits to miners who want to use the motorized dredges to get gold out of streams. There was plenty of anger to go around Wednesday at Redding City Hall as some 80 miners turned out to lambaste a new state law to regulate suction dredge mining.
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