Miner appeals Clean Water Act fine
Dec. 6—A California man who was ordered to pay $150,000 for violating the Clean Water Act while operating a suction dredge mine on the South Fork of the Clearwater River is appealing the fine.
Last summer, a federal judge ruled that Shannon Poe, of Concord, Calif., violated the act when he operated his dredge for 42 days in 2014 and 2015 without first securing National Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit. The suit was brought by the Boise-based Idaho Conservation League.
The dredges work by vacuuming up sediment from the river bed and running the material through a sluice box that separates gold and other heavy metals from the rest of the sediment, which is then deposited back into the river.
The miners, many of them hobbyists, once needed nothing more than an over-the-counter permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources to operate in the South Fork and many other river stretches in the state. But that changed following a 2012 ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said the US Forest Service is required to consult with the federal fisheries agencies before allowing miners to operate the devices in streams where threatened or endangered fish are present. The ruling shut down the activity for a time on the South Fork of the Clearwater River that is home to threatened fish like wild steelhead and bull trout.
But the miners were later able to get back on the water by obtaining a general National Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency considers the sediment that dredges return to the river to be a pollutant.
Poe and other miners refused to get the permits. During the trial, he didn't dispute he operated without a permit but argued the government overstepped federal law and that the permit was not needed because he and other miners were not "adding" pollutants to the river. Instead, he said the pollutants — sediment and heavy metals — were already present.
The Idaho Conservation League argued that federal regulations were correct in their assessment that reanimating once dormant material was property considered as adding pollutants to a waterbody. Judge Ronald E. Bush, of Boise, agreed and U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco later levied the fine.
Last month, Poe filed a notice of appeal and indicated he again will argue that suction dredge mining does not add pollutants to streams and rivers. He is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
According to a news release from the Idaho Conservation League, the group welcomes the challenge and believes a ruling favorable to its view of the case could be far-reaching.
"Based in part on Poe's own admissions that he dredged without proper approval, we feel strongly that the ruling in this case was well-founded, and if the appeals court agrees, this case could set precedent for much of the western United States and Alaska, ensuring that dredge miners and other polluters cannot flout the law," said Jonathan Oppenheimer, external relations director with the Idaho Conservation League.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
