skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Gold-Dredging Decision Digs Deep Into River Rights

play audio
Play

Thursday, August 7, 2014   

BOISE, Idaho – With gold prices at around $1,300 an ounce, motivation is strong to mine for the metal in Idaho.

Many rivers and streams can be used by gold panners or suction dredges, but the Environmental Protection Agency has said parts of the Salmon River are off limits to the dredges because of damage to wildlife habitat and water quality.

Even so, the Idaho Land Board will decide this fall on an application for a five-year commercial riverbed lease to suction dredge the river near Riggins.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, senior conservation associate at the Idaho Conservation League, says the controversy is strong as this is the same area of a recent dredging protest that saw folks setting up equipment without permits.

"Fisherman, outfitters, rafters, loggers and others who use our rivers and our public lands all work within the rules and regulations to keep those lands and waters healthy and clean, and that's just our responsibility as citizens," he points out.

The state has the right to issue the permit, and will hold a public hearing next month in McCall.

However, Oppenheimer says since the EPA has deemed this area of the river off limits, the miner could risk fines of around $37,000 per day if he sets up the equipment.

Oppenheimer points out there's more at stake than just stirring up sediment that smothers fish eggs or impairs water quality.

He explains that the equipment disrupts streamside vegetation and can create holes that are dangerous for anglers, boaters and swimmers.

"Clean water and a healthy Salmon River are priceless assets for Idahoans and those downstream and no one has the right to degrade it or pollute it," he stresses.

Miners contend that there is no pollution from the practice, and any mud they take up from the bottom of the river is put back.

Oppenheimer says there's another layer to the debate, too, about states' rights and objection to EPA decisions.







get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021