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California is Considering an Additional 5-year Moratorium on Suction Dredging!

A trailer bill has been quietly approved by the two Budget Committees in the California legislature to impose an additional 5-year moratorium on suction dredging, which includes elimination of the last bit of funding to finish the ongoing (and nearly completed) review of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that supports our regulations. The budget has yet to be voted upon by the full legislature or governor. If passed into law, this would effectively put an end to suction dredging in California for the next 6 seasons or more.

Justification for the moratorium is based upon two arguments: The first is that the annual suction dredge permitting and enforcement program costs California more than the State receives in permit fees. But the Department of Fish & Game (DFG) recently testified in Alameda Superior Court that they take in more permit revenues from suction dredging than the cost of managing our program. So we know this is not true. And what about all of the economic activity that suction dredging generates in California? Recent estimates from DFG place that at $23 million per year before the first moratorium was imposed in 2009.

Besides, if this were really about funding, the State legislature is very experienced at increasing permit fees (this is not an encouragement). It only requires a single legislative session to accomplish that.

This is really about closing down a productive industry in California!