Waldo Mining District
P.O. Box 1574
Cave Junction, OR
97523
January 9, 2007
To: All Small-scale Mining & Prospecting Organizations
RE: REQUEST
FOR PRIZE DONATION
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is being sent to mining clubs & organizations throughout the Pacific NW and beyond in an attempt to inform them of the great danger Oregon suction dredge miners are currently facing, what is being done about it, by whom, and what your organization can do to help.
My name is Tom Kitchar, and I am the President of the Waldo Mining District (WMD), which is located in SW Oregon. I am writing you today on behalf of the Eastern Oregon Mining Association (EOMA), who is currently involved in litigation that will affect all future suction dredge mining in Oregon, and quite probably other western states.
As a club or organization that promotes suction dredge and/or other small-scale mining and prospecting, I feel that YOU need to be aware of how this litigation WILL AFFECT YOUR ORGANIZATION!
BACKGROUND:
On August 30, 2005, a coalition of environmental organizations (NEDC et al.) filed a “Petition for Judicial Review” in the Oregon Court of Appeals. The Petition challenges the new Oregon suction dredge mining permit (700-PM) issued by the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on July 5, 2005.
In their suit, the environmentalist’s claim DEQ violated administrative procedures while drafting the new permit, and that the new permit is not restrictive enough. It is believed by many in the Oregon suction dredge mining community that if Oregon Miners do not get involved in this litigation, they will ultimately get a more restrictive (and possibly prohibitive) permit.
The Eastern Oregon Mining Association (EOMA), with the help and support of the Waldo Mining District (WMD), Willamette Valley Miners (WVM), the Resources Coalition (RC), and a growing list of other mining organizations, has taken the lead for the miners, and has retained the services of noted attorney James Buchal to help protect the rights of suction dredge miners in Oregon.
On December 9, 2005, a “Motion to Intervene” in the NEDC challenge, and a “Petition for Judicial Review” were filed on behalf of the EOMA in the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon. Although the NEDC challenged EOMA’s right to intervene and the right to issue their own challenge to the permit, the court has, upon appeals, granted EOMA the right to intervene in the NEDC challenge, and to issue a challenge to the permit of their own. The court has “Consolidated” both cases.
Although “Opening Arguments” by the NEDC et al. (“NW Environmental Defense Center”, “Siskiyou Project”, & “Hells Canyon Preservation Society”) were due by mid-December, 2006, an indefinite “hold” has been put on these cases. It is now expected that this case will begin sometime in the spring of 2007.
The outcome of this
litigation will affect
all future suction
dredge mining in Oregon,
and pROBAbly OTHER
WESTERN states.
A DECISION IN this
CASE IS EXPECTED
AS EARLY AS SUMMER,
2007.
IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE
THE 700-PM PERMIT WILL BE
REVOKED, AND A NEW
PERMIT WILL BE NEEDED!
It is imperative that Oregon suction dredge miners be involved in the NEDC challenge and defend suction dredge mining. Failure to be involved will almost certainly lead to a much more restrictive, and quite possibly prohibitive, permit. A more restrictive Oregon permit may easily lead to more restrictive permits in other western states, as their respective permits come open for renewal. Any and all so-called “facts” submitted by the NEDC and/or DEQ will become part of the Official Record, unless rebutted by the Miners. It is imperative that miners be involved and intervene.
The EOMA challenge to the permit is based on (among other things):
1. The present (700-PM) permit is unnecessarily restrictive, and
2. DEQ has no verifiable/factual science to justify those restrictions, and
3. DEQ made improper and faulty conclusions based on the minimum science they
did use, and
4. That the criterion used by DEQ to restrict the discharge of suction dredges was based
on a now scrapped “proposed-draft” Water Quality Standard and,
5. That it’s the WRONG PERMIT in the first place!
Although this challenge is brought by EOMA, many small-scale mining and prospecting organizations throughout Oregon and beyond are standing 110% behind EOMA, lending them technical, legal, research, financial, and moral support. This is a “team-effort”, to save suction dredge mining. The outcome of this litigation will effect all future suction dredge operations in Oregon, and possibly beyond.
Many of us involved with EOMA in this litigation have been actively working on the Oregon Suction Dredge Permit since August, 2004. Thousands of man-hours have been spent by miners attempting to get the proper permit from DEQ to no avail. Unfortunately, the only avenue left open to Oregon’s suction dredge miners to defend and preserve all of our rights to mine is in the courts… which means litigation, lawyers, and expensive legal fees.
Oregon miners are battling for their very existence. We need ammunition, in the form of dollars, to counter this threat by the environmentalists (whose long stated goal is the prohibition of all suction dredge mining), and the overly and unnecessarily restrictive, and unlawful, regulation by the DEQ.
This challenge, brought by the NEDC and other environmentalist organizations, is part of a multi-state effort by the environmentalist to highly restrict or out-and-out prohibit suction dredge mining & prospecting. Part of their “plan” is to regulate the discharge from suction dredges with the use of a “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System” (NPDES) permit, pursuant to Section 402 of the United States Clean Water Act (CWA), under the jurisdiction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (NOTE: NPDES permits are issued for the EPA in Oregon by the DEQ, and are typically used to permit such operations as municipal sewage treatment plant discharges and other heavy industrial discharges which “add pollutants” to “the waters of the United States”)
In order to raise the necessary funding (estimated minimum: $30,000+), EOMA, with the help and support of many Oregon and out-of-Oregon mining organizations, are planning to hold “The Mother of All Raffles”, starting in early January, with the drawing to be held on July 22, 2007, at the “Miner’s Jubilee” in Baker City, Oregon.
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The “Grand
Prize” in this Mother of All Raffles will be a New 2007
Polaris 4X4 ATV Quad “Sportsman”,
provided by EOMA.
Other prizes are being arranged.
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EOMA needs and requests the help and support of all mining organizations in Oregon and beyond. In an attempt to unite all the mining orgs., and to get them behind this effort, the Waldo Mining District has made a challenge to all the other mining organizations:
Waldo Mining
District has donated one (1) ounce of placer gold
to be used
as a prize in the up-coming Mother of All Raffles.
We are asking each mining
organization to spread the word, at your meetings and in your newsletters,
asking your members to please chip in a little gold to be used as prizes in
this Mother of All Raffles. Pledges for
gold donations are currently being accepted, and the gold will need to be
delivered by July 1, 2007.
Any organization that donates at least one (1) ounce of gold will be listed as a “Supporting Organization” in advertising for the raffle. We sincerely hope to develop a list of all mining orgs!
Within a few short weeks, we will be sending you more information on the litigation, and the raffle. It is our sincere hope that your organization will get behind these efforts to save suction dredge mining in Oregon!
100% of all monies raised by the raffle will be used to pay raffle expenses (i.e.; advertising fees, postage, prize acquisition, etc. (no salaries or labor expenses), with the remaining funds going directly into the EOMA Permit Legal Fund. 100% of all monies in the EOMA Permit Legal Fund will be used to pay attorney and court fees in connection with this litigation, and any remaining funds (if any), will be used in future litigation.
CONTACTS & INFORMATION:
For further information please feel free to contact either myself, Tom Kitchar, through the WMD, or phone (541) 660-7096 (cell), email: mythicalmining@cavenet.com
Or, Chuck Chase, Executive Director, EOMA, P.O.B. 932, Baker City, OR 97814, or phone (541) 523-3285, email: chase3285@msn.com
Copies of court filed
documents can be viewed on the Waldo Mining District website at: www.waldominingdistrict.org
CASH DONATIONS: Can be made directly to:
EOMA 700PM
Legal Fund
PO Box
932
Baker City,
OR 97814
EOMA is a 501c6 non-profit organization. Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible donation may do so to Eastern Oregon Miners & Prospectors (EOMP), P.O.B. 66, Baker City, OR 97814. (EOMP is a 501c3 non-profit organization).
PRIZE DONATIONS:
Anyone wishing to donate a prize for the upcoming raffle is requested to contact myself (Tom Kitchar), or Chuck Chase for more information, for confirmation, and to arrange prize delivery.
Thank you…
On behalf of EOMA, and all Oregon Miners;
Tom Kitchar – President
Waldo Mining District
P.O. Box 1574
Cave Junction, OR 97523
(541) 660-7096 (cell)
"Never doubt that
a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.
Indeed, it’s the only
thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead