Pacific Northwest - Mining

摘要

New Restrictions on Motorized Instream Placer Mining Take Effect On June 14,2017, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) into law. See S. 3, 79th Leg., Reg. Sess., 2017 Oregon Laws ch. 300. The law, which took effect on January 1, 2018, repeals a five-year moratorium on motorized instream placer mining that took effect in 2016, see Vol. XXXIII, No. 2 (2016) of this Newsletter, and replaces it with permanent prohibitions on such mining activity within certain areas. Specifically, SB 3 amends Or. Rev. Stat. ch. 468B to include a prohibition on motorized instream mining, including motorized suction dredge mining, for precious metals from placer deposits "up to the line of ordinary high water in any river in this state containing essential indigenous anadromous salmonid habitat...." Id. § 4(2).