APRIL 4 2011 The 1st committee hearing for SB657 will be at the Capital on April 12th at 9:30 AM in room 112. I have a sample support letter you may use. Please note: this bill is not about the science of suction dredging. The following are the key components of the bill: It is strictly procedural. The bill does not revisit the specific science of suction dredging, but simply argues the arbitrary decision of shutting down an industry on a hunch that it could be harmful.
There are policies in place (ex:EIRS) to determine the impacts of specific industries and these are used for a reason. To circumvent the process and shut it down and then go through the approved steps is unfair and undermines their own processes of research.
Previous studies, court cases and decisions have not shown suction dredging to be harmful enough to shut down, so it shouldn’t be shut down in anticipation of quite possibly the same outcome form this EIR. Please address your letters to the members of the committee at the State Capitol, Sacramento 95814.
Senator Fran Pavley (Chair), Room 4035Senator Doug La Malfa (Vice Chair), Room 3070
Senator Anthony Cannella, Room 3048Senator Noreen Evans, Room 4034
Senator Jean Fuller, Room 3063Senator Christine Kehoe, Room 5050
Senator Alex Padilla, Room 4038Senator Joe Simitian, Room 2080
Senator Lois Wolk, Room 5114
February 28 2011
Subject: Suction Dredge meetings for the new regulations The following link has a list of the public meetings and where they are being held for the Ca. DFG Draft Environmental Impact Report. All miners and suction dredge operators should attend these meetings even if you do not testify.
Support from the minng community is very important and shows support for our right to suction dredge and mine. If you are affected in anyway from the proposed regulations you should testify as to what that affect is.
It is very hard to change the DFG's mind on what they want to do and direct them on what they should do if they are not aware of the problems the new regulations will create. Please, if at all possible make one or more of these meetings for your own benefit and the benefit of all concerned.
This is the person to comment to if you can't get to a meeting. Mark Stopher mstopher@dfg.ca.gov Environmental Program Manager California Department of Fish and Game 601 Locust Street Redding, CA 96001
Some time ago we had identified this week and last as the period of time we expected to hold public meetings on the Draft Subsequent Environmental Impact Report and Proposed Regulations. In mid-December it became apparent we would not be able to meet that schedule and, by email, I shared that information with everyone for whom I had an email address and I knew was interested. Clearly, my email address book does not include everyone who is interested in these proceedings. As a result, last night a number of people showed up in Santa Clarita expecting a public meeting, which did not happen. There are no public meetings this week in Santa Clarita, Fresno or Sacramento nor are there any in Redding or Yreka next week.
CDFG has completed our review and development of the draft SEIR and proposed regulations and we are now incorporating final edits, proofreading documents, and preparing the several submittals which are necessary for the Office of Administrative Law. When we are done with that sometime next week we will provide documents to the printer for production and get our mailing list set up to mail paper copies to libraries and CDFG offices, CD's to parties who have requested the documents and work on getting the documents posted to our web site. When we know exactly when we can release the documents for public review we will establish the public meeting dates and locations.
I expect to have a much better idea of our schedule next week. That information will be used to update our website and I will provide the same information to this group in an email.
Please forward to others who may find this useful.
Mark Stopher mstopher@dfg.ca.gov Environmental Program Manager California Department of Fish and Game 601 Locust Street Redding, CA 96001
Our schedule for public release of the Draft SEIR and Suction Dredge Regulations has held a target date of the last week of December, 2010, for some time. I regret to inform you that we must defer this until approximately February 1, 2011. Assuming a release on that date I project a date of filing new regulations with the Secretary of State in mid-October 2011.
While we are close to final wording of the draft regulations and the analysis in the Draft SEIR we are not far enough along to conclude our final review, make any necessary edits and produce the document to release the documents in the next few weeks. We had previously projected public meetings for the last week in January and first week of February. These will also need to be rescheduled in late February or early March to allow some time for public review before the meetings.
As to public availability of these documents, we will be printing a very limited number of paper copies. At a production cost of a couple hundred dollars/copy we cannot afford to print a large number. We intend to make copies available at county libraries and some DFG offices for review on-site. The documents will also be available for review and downloading in adobe acrobat format from the DFG website at www.dfg.ca.gov and we will print several hundred compact disks with all of the files on them. We will mail compact disks on request and make copies available at the public meetings.
Mark Stopher email: mstopher@dfg.ca.gov Environmental Program Manager California Department of Fish and Game 601 Locust Street Redding, CA 96001
Dems aim for 100+ bills in 1 swoop By: Darren Goode December 6, 2010 04:43 AM EST
Democratic efforts to push through more than 100 public lands and water bills in the lame duck session are reaching a fever pitch, with the recognition this is the last chance many of them have to become law.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has tasked Democratic leaders on at least three committees to come up with a list of bills that could get past a GOP filibuster.
They may also need to be able to secure the two-thirds support that would be needed if the House tries to expedite the package without amendments in a tight legislative calendar.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday that she has given Reid a draft list of bills to consider. That evolving list is believed to include plans to provide protection to the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, Lake Tahoe, the Gulf of Mexico and the San Francisco Bay.
“The issue is getting 60 votes, which we think we can,” Boxer said.
Boxer, most of the Democrats on her panel, Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) were among those who gathered with Reid off the Senate floor during a vote last Monday to talk options. More formal meetings were also held Tuesday.
Several Senate Republicans are cosponsors of individual bills that could be included but the GOP appears likely to object to the package as a whole.
“There’s no way a giant omnibus like that would gain support among Republicans,” said Robert Dillon, spokesman for Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “There’s bills in there we would like to see passed but not this way. We don’t have the time to fix all the problems.”
A potential Democratic package could include more than 100 measures from at least three panels. Energy and Natural Resources has passed 72 public lands bills that are pending on the Senate calendar and there are others the panel has not yet voted on; the Environment and Public Works Committee has so far given more than a dozen bills to be considered; while the Commerce Committee Friday sent over a list of 13 bills.
A Boxer spokesperson said bills being considered for the package were reported from several committees with bipartisan support. “They represent the work of committees and senators over the course of this Congress and, for many, over the course of a career and they deserve a vote,” the spokesperson said.
Bingaman spokesman Bill Wicker said the panel's bills are not controversial and many were approved with no opposition. Bingaman staffers are holding off on providing a final list to Reid in case additional bills not voted on by the panel could be added.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Worls Committee has threatened to block swift approval of a land and water omnibus bill if it includes, for example, the version of the Chesapeake Bay protection bill that passed the panel by voice vote with the understanding that work on it would continue.
That bill “still needs significant changes, principally with respect to restricting the broad, and unprecedented, scope of authority it grants EPA over state permitting programs,” Inhofe said last week. Inhofe said he wants to keep talking with the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
“But it won’t be reached today or if this bill is thrown together with several other bills, many of which are too expansive and set unrealistic authorization levels,” Inhofe said.
Inhofe aides sent POLITICO a list of water bills the committee has passed that the Oklahoma Republican thinks are fine in their current form. They include protections for Lake Tahoe, the San Francisco Bay, Gulf of Mexico and marine turtles.
The chances of passage for the package in a packed calendar this month is further complicated by the demand last week of all 42 Senate Republicans not to allow any measures to come up until the Senate agrees to extend a set of Bush-era tax cuts.
A Reid spokeswoman simply said that a lands and water package is on “a long list of items to consider and not much time to do so.”
If the Senate were able to move the omnibus measure, the House would still need to follow suit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could pass the measure in five minutes if she can round up a two-thirds majority to avoid any amendments and tricky GOP motions to recommit. But that's no sure thing.
House Natural Resources ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) – who is in line to chair the panel in the next Congress – pushed back last week at any attempt to quickly pass what he deemed "a Frankenstein" bill.
“This omnibus lands bill will have significant impacts on American jobs, our economy and our nation’s energy, environmental and land-use policies,” he wrote to House Democratic leaders Thursday. “Such a significant bill should not be hastily pushed through Congress without thoughtful and careful consideration.”
Some Democrats also may not just simply want to green light a list of Senate bills without adding their own input.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) – who chairs a key Natural Resources subcommittee overseeing public lands – wants his committee to come up with its own list to offer House Democratic leaders.
“I feel it is imperative that the House Natural Resources Committee and House leadership has equal say in what legislation is included in a final package,” Grijalva wrote. “If the Senate develops a list of bills to package, the House should be able to do the same.”
URGENT REQUEST - PLEASE TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY
It’s now been CONFIRMED! Senators Bingaman and Boxer are preparing a massive Public Lands & Water Bill WHICH WILL INCLUDE S. 1689, creating a quarter of a million acres of wilderness on or near the border.
With Juarez now declared The World’s Most Dangerous City and new reports of violence along our border each day, we don’t need legislation which PREVENTS THE BORDER PATROL FROM DOING THEIR JOB.
We also don’t deserve to have our community’s future determined by a last minute, hurried up procedure by a Lame Duck Congress.
___IT CAN BE STOPPED__
Senator Bingaman will pull S. 1689 from the package if he gets enough calls.
You call, have your friends call, and have your friends’ friends call. Even if you have called or written before, PLEASE CALL AGAIN. WE CAN WIN THIS!
CALL Senator Bingaman today and tell him NO S. 1689 DURING THE LAME DUCK SESSION!
Las Cruces Office: 575-523-6561
Toll free from NM 800-443-8658
DC Office: 202-224-5521
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