Tom Kitchar - President

Tom Kitchar - President Waldo Mining District P.O. Box 1574 Cave Junction, OR 97523 [email protected]

June 5, 2007

Scott Harn - Editor International California Mining Journal [email protected]

Hi Scott;

We were hoping you could fit the following in your “Miner’s Calendar”:

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July 20-22, 2007

The 25th annual Baker County “Miner’s Jubilee” will be held in Baker City, OR. The Eastern Oregon Mining Association will be hosting the “Oregon Gold Panning Championship” and the “Oregon Hand Steeling Championship. For more information go to: www.eoma.org.

********************************************************************** We were also hoping you could find room for the following about the Jubilee:

Silver Anniversary of Miner’s Jubilee

The 25th annual Baker County (OR) “Miner’s Jubilee” will be held July 20-22 in Geiser Pollman Park in Baker City, OR.. EOMA will be hosting both the Oregon Gold Panning and Hand Steeling Championships, along with Gold Nugget Bingo on Saturday & Sunday, gold panning for the kids (with over 1 ounce of gold to be given away), and a Silent Auction across from the museum.

1 This year’s Jubilee will be dedicated to rich mining legacy of Baker County. Miners are encouraged to bring in their small mining concentrators and equipment for display and demonstration. There will also be an exhibit of large-scale mining equipment, a parade, and EOMA’s famous 3 Stamp Mill which will be running periodically in the park and in the parade.

Mining organizations and mining suppliers from across the west are welcome to come and set-up booths/concessions, free of charge.

A highlight of the Jubilee will be the drawing in EOMA’s “Mother of All Raffles”, a fundraising event to help cover legal expenses in connection with the litigation concerning the Oregon Suction Dredge Mining Permit. The drawing will begin at 2:00 pm on Sunday, July 22, at the EOMA booth located across from the museum on the east side of Geiser Pollman Park, which is located on the south side of Campbell Street. Prizes include a new Keene 3” dredge, a Tesero “De Leon” metal detector, 1 oz. of placer gold, 25 oz. silver bar, an Oregon Gold Beaver replica coin, plus many more great prizes. Grand prize will be a 2007 Polaris “Sportsman 450” ATV. (Need not be present to win).

For more information go to: www.eoma.org, or www.waldominingdistrict.org, or contact Chuck Chase at: [email protected], or (541) 523-3285.

********************************************************************** And if that wasn’t enough, below is an article regarding the filing of EOMA’s Opening Brief:

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OREGON SUCTION DREDGE PERMIT UPDATE

By Tom Kitchar – President, Waldo Mining District

On May 29, 2007, the Eastern Oregon Mining Association (EOMA) filed their Opening

Brief in the Oregon Court of Appeals against the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality

(DEQ), challenging the legality of the new (2005) Oregon Suction Dredge Permit, and in response to a brief filed March 15th by a coalition of anti-mining environmental groups led by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC), who claim DEQ’s new permit is not restrictive enough, and that DEQ violated administrative procedures while enacting the new permit.

EOMA’s challenge to the permit is based, primarily, on the belief that DEQ stepped beyond their jurisdiction by enacting a “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination

System” (NPDES) permit under the authority of the federal Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). A portion of the

EOMA brief follows:

Questions Presented On Appeal

1. Whether Respondents exceeded their statutory authority by entirely misconceiving federal law and regulations they believed required them to issue a permit under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), rather than deferring to the decision of the responsible federal agency that the activity was of de

3 minimis significance and therefore appropriately not regulated under the Clean Water

Act at all?

2. Whether Respondents, relying upon the same misconception of federal law, exceeded their statutory authority by including substantial restrictions on temporary, localized increases in turbidity caused by suction dredge mining, notwithstanding the environmental benefits of the mining?

3. Whether Respondents exceeded their statutory authority by forbidding mining outright in certain bodies of water that were “water quality limited” based on the same fundamental misconception of federal law?

Summary of Argument

In its First Assignment of Error, EOMA demonstrates that the most serious problem with the Permit and Rule is that it is premised on the wrong statute: § 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1342. That one error gave rise to fantastic complexities, contradictions, and turned what should have been a simple task into a multi-year battle with multiple rounds of litigation—to which the mining community was unfortunately a latecomer. Specifically, it is entirely clear from the plain language of the controlling joint federal regulations that suction dredges involve the “discharge of dredged materials”, which are to be regulated—if at all—under § 404 of the CWA (33

U.S.C. § 1344), not § 402. In particular, the controlling federal regulations specifically put “instream mining” under § 404. The permitting regime under § 404, which involves no more than dirt, mud and gravel, is much simpler and less onerous than the § 402 regime crafted for regulation of toxic industrial waste.

4 In its Second Assignment of Error, EOMA demonstrates that but for the first error, there would have been no cause for regulating the temporary and localized disturbances in stream turbidity that may be generated by suction dredge mining.

It its Third Assignment of Error, EOMA demonstrates Respondents exceeded their statutory authority by determining arbitrarily to close certain “water quality limited streams”. Respondents manifestly lacked authority to do so when, again, they had acted under the wrong statute, and as a matter of Oregon state law, there were no findings that would be required to support such closure. Respondents also demonstrate that an outright closure, insofar as it involves Oregon waterways running through federal land, is pre-empted by powerful and overriding policies of federal mining law.

EOMA also responds to NEDC’s three Assignments of Error…

EOMA asks this Court to remand this action to achieve regulation of suction dredge mining under appropriate interpretations of the Clean Water Act and Oregon law. EOMA expects that Alternatively,

 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers might conclude that small scale suction dredges cause de minimis effects, or might issue a General Permit under § 404;

 Respondents might have the opportunity to review Corps decisionmaking under § 401, if it does issue a general permit; and

 Respondents would in any event have the opportunity to consider potential regulation under State law, possibly working with the Division of State Lands (which already issues a parallel set of Removal-Fill permits akin to § 404 permits), and thereby fulfill its longstanding but unfulfilled promise to “streamline and consolidate” to produce a “more efficient permitting process” (ER207).

Either path would eliminate the ongoing controversy concerning efforts to entangle suction dredge mining in fantastically-complex permitting provisions designed for industrial processes discharging toxic pollutants.

5 The complete 61 page brief can be viewed at; www.waldominingdistrict.org. The outcome of this litigation will affect all future suction dredge operations in Oregon, and probably most other states. In this current anti-mining political environment, it is crucial that Oregon miners win this case, which ultimately tests the sovereignty of the Waters of the State vs. Waters of the United States.

This litigation will cost thousands of dollars, and EOMA is seeking the help and support of miners everywhere in the form of donations, which can be made directly to the EOMA

Legal Fund, P.O. Box 932, Baker City, OR 97814; or by purchasing tickets to EOMA’s

“Mother of All Raffles”, which closes July 22nd at the “Miner’s Jubilee” in Baker City

(OR) (Note: See the ad for the Raffle and article about the Miner’s Jubilee elsewhere in this issue, or go to; www.eoma.org, or www.waldominingdistrict.org for more information.)

UPDATE ON OREGON SENATE BILL 38

Oregon Senate Bill 38 proposes to add $15 to the cost of filing/recording any property related document with County Recorders, including Notices of Location, Affidavits of labor, etc.. The estimated $30+ million per year SB-38 would raise would go to Low

Income Housing & Development projects. While still in committee, members of the

Waldo Mining District and Willamette Valley Miners introduced an amendment to the bill to exempt the additional $15 fees for the recording of annually required claim maintenance documents (i.e.; Proof of Labor, Payment of Maintenance Fees, or Intent to

Hold), as any such fees over and above actual recording costs constitute a tax on mining

6 claims, which is illegal in Oregon. (ORS 307.080 “… mining claims are exempt from taxation…” ). The Miners amendment was added to the list of amendments to be voted on, but before a vote could be taken, it was noted by Senator Gary George that under state law, all revenue raising bills MUST start in the House. SB-38 was canned…

… And came back to life in the House as HB-3551, with the Miner’s amendment now made a part of the new House bill. Miners are carefully watching the progress of HB-

3551 to make sure the mining claim exemption is not removed. A vote on the bill is expected before the end of the 2007 legislative session, which ends June 30th.

Oregon miners are also watching two other House bills, HB-2085 and HB-2857, which would add another $1.00 and $3.00 respectively to the cost of recording documents.

Currently, both of these bills seem to be dormant, and may just die in committee.

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Scott:

As always, feel free to edit as necessary…

Thanks again…

Tom Kitchar - President Waldo Mining District P.O. Box 1574 Cave Junction, OR 97523 (541) 660-7096 [email protected]