MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES
Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:14 am
ALL;
Apologizes for not getting back to this sooner. As far as what's happening with the Smith Petition and the Letter of Support goes, I have received a letter from the EPA thanking me for the Letter of Support... and that they are looking at it (the problem). WHEN? Who knows.
NOT HELPING is the total mess back in Washington DC... how Trump gets anything done is a miracle... and let's face it, our problems are not high on the list of things to do! We need more pressure put on the EPA and Army Corps to ACT!!!
Although it's a little early to announce, we are doing something that just might put the needed pressure on the EPA/Corps. Just last week the Eastern Oregon Mining Association and the Waldo Mining District, along with 4 individuals (i.e.; the appellants that have been in court for 14+ years over NPDES permitting) signed Agreement papers with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) who will file an appeal on our behalf of the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision with the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of December.
Once our appeal is filed, the agencies will have a choice to either amend the regulations, or risk a SCOTUS decision... and all we have to do is show that suction dredges do not "add pollutants".
As this develops, news will be posted on the Waldo Mining District website at: WWW.WALDOMININGDISTRICT.ORG
(BTW: for those that don't know, in the West, the U.S. EPA (Region 10) requires suction dredge mining be covered under a "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. This is the same permit needed for sewage treatment plants and other onshore industrial discharges into waters. The "addition of a pollutant" has been defined by the U.S. Supreme Court to mean the addition from the outside world into the water... in other words, adding something to the water that wasn't in the water. Suction dredges don't "add" anything!
There's more on the Evils of NPDES on the Waldo website.)
Apologizes for not getting back to this sooner. As far as what's happening with the Smith Petition and the Letter of Support goes, I have received a letter from the EPA thanking me for the Letter of Support... and that they are looking at it (the problem). WHEN? Who knows.
NOT HELPING is the total mess back in Washington DC... how Trump gets anything done is a miracle... and let's face it, our problems are not high on the list of things to do! We need more pressure put on the EPA and Army Corps to ACT!!!
Although it's a little early to announce, we are doing something that just might put the needed pressure on the EPA/Corps. Just last week the Eastern Oregon Mining Association and the Waldo Mining District, along with 4 individuals (i.e.; the appellants that have been in court for 14+ years over NPDES permitting) signed Agreement papers with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) who will file an appeal on our behalf of the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision with the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of December.
Once our appeal is filed, the agencies will have a choice to either amend the regulations, or risk a SCOTUS decision... and all we have to do is show that suction dredges do not "add pollutants".
As this develops, news will be posted on the Waldo Mining District website at: WWW.WALDOMININGDISTRICT.ORG
(BTW: for those that don't know, in the West, the U.S. EPA (Region 10) requires suction dredge mining be covered under a "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. This is the same permit needed for sewage treatment plants and other onshore industrial discharges into waters. The "addition of a pollutant" has been defined by the U.S. Supreme Court to mean the addition from the outside world into the water... in other words, adding something to the water that wasn't in the water. Suction dredges don't "add" anything!
There's more on the Evils of NPDES on the Waldo website.)