Lawyers plundering Colfax with Clean Water Act

[Chadillac]

Hello everyone,

I am Chad Stanford and my father, Bill Stanford, is the man who got me interested into mining. I will give some history and TRY to be brief. But, I have a lot of ISSUES with the government controlling access to our mining claim, and using intimidation to TRY to kick me off our mining claims. They have been unsuccessful thus far. THANK GOD FOR JERRY HOBBS AND PLP!!!!!!

We have had a claim for 20 years now, I was young, dumb, and full of ..... and in my teenage years I REALLY screwed up and didn't realize the opportunity available to all AMERICAN CITIZENS. I am now pulling my head out of my ***. (It is too bad I didn't get to know more of my elders while I was younger)

I have been back involved and interested in our mining rights since 2004 while trying to help my dad who was a submariner and now a disabled vet.

OCCUPATION ISSUE:
After graduating with my Associates in Computer Networking I took a break and lived and worked on my mining claim for a full year. Especially since my dad told me I "couldn't learn how to be a miner until I learn how to pick sh*t with the chickens."

While working our claim I didn't submit a NOI, so the Forest Service sent me a letter threating to impound all my equipment, belongings, and water line. FORTUNATELY I met Mr. Lex & Mr. Wagner who introduced me to Jerry Hobbs and Mr. Hobbs informed me of the law and my rights. Knowing my rights, I continued to stay on my claim until I enrolled at CSU Stanislaus for my B.S. in Geology. Now I'm in my second year.

ACCESS ISSUE:
We have a log stringer bridge on the original Salmon River road that runs through our claim. We were required by previous rangers to put a gate to prevent public access due to public safety issues regarding the bridge. Early 2007 the new regime issued an emergency closure (during the fire season closures), and brought a lowboy & backhoe out to block the bridge with rocks. Upon our arrival in the 2008 dredge season the rocks had been moved. ***You never know what Salmon River locals might do, they are admittingly Cantankerouss *** So, we used the bridge only by foot. No vehicles.

Now, I recently discovered after my 2008 mining season the new regime came in and TORE out all the logs and left them looking like a mess. The logs were SCATTERED in the road, are completely in the way of access and occupying the space I would use to setup my camp. They sent me no notice of doing so.

I am posting this to give you a rundown on my situation as I plan on being A LOT more active in standing up for one of our last TRUE AMERICAN RIGHTS; making a living off the land via mining. "Get our worth from the Earth and not our fellow man."

As the title says, I am finishing my finals in school and now prepping to head to Salmon River country to work my claim for the summer until school starts back up. We will see what our regulating agencies will try to do. I will do my best to keep things updated and keep you posted.

May God Bless America,
Chad

[Chadillac]

Hello Everyone,

I haven't done much good, spent a month trying to get water up a mountain side for a highbank operation with no luck yet. But, problem after problem and I hope to have water tomorrow. We haven't done much on it since dredge season openened and things are starting to look up as far as color.

But, it is hard to get time to mine with all this legal Bullshit. Here is the letter I just sent to the governor....




Dear Governor, Arnold Schwarznegger

re: SB 670

I am a full time student at CSU Stanislaus and dredge my mining claim in the summer months in order to supplement and relieve my need for student aid. With all the legislative hassle I have been burdened with as well as fending off claim jumpers, I am unable to make a decent effort toward working my mining claim.

I represent thousands of miners throughout the Klamath Mountains, many of which do not have electricity, phone, or internet and some are even illiterate. But, they are voters and avid tax payers like the plaintiffs claim to be. Signing SB670 will only HURT the economy.

I urge you to VETO Senate Bill 670 for the following reasons:
• From my own experience and thousands of others, dredging is GOOD for the fish. YOU ARE WELCOME TO COME UP TO MY CLAIM AND EXPERIENCE DREDGING YOURSELF AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.
o When you start dredging there is NO fish present, after only hours there is many fish feeding and swarming the dredging area. The fish enjoy the cool water. Please read the evidence below.
• SB 670 will cause economic harm to hundreds of California businesses and will result in layoffs.
• Environmentalists continue to claim that suction gold dredging is harming threatened and endangered species, without evidence of a single fish being harmed. Strict timing windows are already in place in California so that suction gold dredging will not interfere with spawning.
• According to Dennis R. Maria, California Department of Fish and Game senior biologist (retired), “In all my years of experience, I have never seen evidence of a single fish killed by suction dredge mining, even juvenile fish, because the Department has restricted such activity in the only period when such mining is likely to cause actual injury by digging into fish redds or areas where alevins (sac-fry) would be present.”
• SB 670 will cause irreparable harm to thousands of individuals and hundreds of businesses in California. Negatively impacted businesses include mining publications, mining equipment manufacturers and retailers, assayers, prospecting clubs, resorts, hotels, motels, private campgrounds and many more.
• The Mining Law of 1872 makes it clear that mining is a right subject to reasonable regulation – not prohibition.
• Suction dredge mining has been subjected to many studies that indicate this activity not only is de minimis to fish and their habitat under current regulations, but this is the only activity that occurs in our state waters that provides mitigation.1
• Suction dredge mining creates dissolved oxygen and breaks up compacted gravels, creating the spawning areas, holes and cooler waters necessary for a healthy fish population. The DFG spends millions of dollars to create this same scenario for spawning fish.2
• Suction dredge mining removes harmful lead, mercury and man-made debris from our waters. Washington has set up a program, in cooperation with suction dredge miners, to collect harmful metals and debris. Over a 12-month period the Washington Department of Ecology took possession of over 150 lbs. of mercury that had been recovered by suction dredge miners.3
• If the bill is enacted, we are committed to joining other California businesses and individuals in litigation against the state to correct the situation.
• Joseph C. Greene, a US EPA research biologist (retired) with 30 years experience, has directly addressed and refuted the claims made by those who state that suction gold dredging is harmful to the environment. In fact, Greene states that the dispute has little to do with possible harm to endangered fish but rather is centered on power and control of California’s waterways.4
- Sincerely,
Chad Stanford
Rt 1, Box 379
Forks of Salmon, CA 96031


1 Effects of Small-Scale Gold Dredging Arsenic, Copper, Lead, and Zinc Concentrations in the
Similkameen River, Washington State Dept. of Ecology, March 2005, Publication No. 05-03-007.
Impact of suction dredging on water quality, benthic habitat, and biota in the Fortymile River, Resurrection
Creek, and Chatanika River, Alaska, US Environmental Protection Agency, June 1999.
2 Evaluating the Success of Spawning Habitat Enhancement on the Merced River, Robinson Reach,
California Department of Fish and Game, 2002.
3 Miners Clean Washington Rivers and Streams, ICMJ’s Prospecting and Mining Journal, May 2007.
4 Third Declaration of Joseph C. Greene in support of the reply memorandum in opposition to
proposed stipulated judgment of the New 49’ers and Raymond W. Koons; Karuk Tribe of California
v. California Department of Fish and Game et al; Case No. RG05 211597; Superior Court of California,
County of Alameda; January 2006.

[editor]

Congressman McClintock Introduces H.R. 3544

December 1, 2011 7:40 PM

Congressman McClintock has introduced H.R. 3544.
The legislation offers litigatory reforms for local communities.
The Congressman discussed the legislation in a House floor speech on December 1, 2011:

The Plunder of Colfax

In the Sierra Foothills in northeastern California lies the little town of Colfax, population 1,800, with a median household income of about $35,000.
Over the past several years, this little town has been utterly plundered by regulatory and litigatory excesses that have pushed the town to the edge of bankruptcy and ravaged families already struggling to make ends meet.
Colfax operates a small wastewater treatment plant for its residents that discharges into the Smuthers Ravine. Because it does so, it operates within the provisions of the Clean Water Act, a measure adopted in 1972 and rooted in legitimate concerns to protect our vital water resources.
The problem is that predatory environmental law firms have discovered how to take unconscionable advantage of that law to reap windfall profits at the expense of working-class families like the townspeople of Colfax.
In the case of Colfax, an environmental law firm demanded every document pertaining to the water treatment plant from the date of its inception. It then poured over those documents looking for any possible violation – including mere paperwork errors. By law, those documents include self-monitoring reports by the water agency itself, and any violation, no matter how minor, establishes a cause of action for which the law provides for no affirmative defense – even if the violation is due to factors completely outside of the local community’s control, including acts of God or acts by unrelated and uncontrollable third parties.
Prove one such violation – and remember, the law allows for no affirmative defense – and you have just guaranteed the attorneys all of their fees, which in this case were billed at $550 per hour.
As a result of this predatory activity, the town of Colfax is facing legal fees alone that exceed the town’s entire annual budget. Families that are struggling just to keep afloat are fleeced by attorneys charging $550 per hour.
But that’s just part of the problem.
The law requires constant upgrading of the facilities to meet ever-changing state-of-the-art regulations that have nothing to do with health and safety and with absolutely no concern for their prohibitive costs. In fact, Colfax is now required to discharge water certifiably cleaner than the natural stream water into which it is discharged. In Colfax’s case, this required a $15 million expenditure divided among 1,800 working-class residents who are now paying $2,500 per year just for their water connections.
And once the town has met this standard, there’s no guarantee that in five years it won’t be told, “Sorry, the rules have changed and you’ll need to start over.”
It is time to restore some form of rationality back to this law, and to stop the plunder of small towns like Colfax. And Colfax isn’t alone – any community that operates a wastewater treatment plant is in the same jeopardy.
No one disputes that we need to maintain and enforce sensible and cost-effective protections of our precious water resources. But legitimate environmental protections must no longer be used as an excuse for regulatory extremism and litigatory plundering of our local communities.

Today, I am introducing legislation to offer six reforms to protect other communities from going through the same nightmare as the people of Colfax:
First, to limit private-party lawsuits to issues of significant non-compliance rather than harmless paperwork errors;
Second, to shield local agencies from liability for acts beyond their control;
Third, to give local agencies 60 days to cure a violation before legal action can be initiated;
Fourth, to allow communities to amortize the cost of new facilities over a period of 15 years before new requirements can be heaped on them;
Fifth, to require a cost-benefit analysis before new regulations can be imposed;
And sixth, to limit attorney fees to the prevailing fees in the community.
Like many movements, the impetus for stronger environmental protection of our air and water was firmly rooted in legitimate concerns to protect these vital resources. But like many movements, as it succeeded in its legitimate ends, it also attracted a self-interested constituency that has driven far past the borders of commonsense and into the realms of political extremism and outright plunder and I am hopeful that we are now entering an era when common sense can be restored to the Clean Water Act in this session of the Congress.

Congressman Tom McClintock,
House Chamber Remarks,
Washington, D.C.
December 1, 2011.

[editor]

Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 5:51 PM
Subject: Fwd: Congressman McClintock Introduces H.R. 3544

To All:
We are all paying a high price to enrich lawyers for the Clean Water Act. If you have not heard of this it is probably because your city or county has the money to just settle the case. But it is added to the cost of your sewer bills.
This bill, H.R.3544, was written in partnership between our City Attorney, good friend of mine Micky Cabral and Congressman McClintock.
The Honorable Congressman, and (I don't put the word honorable, in front of many Congressmen) met with us and is taking our concerns to the floor. I have met with the Congressman a few times and he is one of the good guys.
This will probably be killed by B. Boxer and Reid in the Senate unless pressure is put on her by other States.
Please forward this to anyone you know, that is from another State, other than California, and ask them to support Cong. McClintock's H.R. 3544. It would be nice to have as many as possible write in to the Senate and Congress in support of this bill.
These lawyers can write up violations as long as they like, charging $550/hour. Of course they already have one violation you are guilty of because they get free access to all of your records. It can be a simple paperwork error. The last time the lawyer did this to us he wrote up over 4,000 violations; o nly a few were we guilty of, but he gets all his money for time spent writing the 4,000.
This is pure extortion and needs to be stopped!
Steve Harvey
Mayor
City of Colfax, CA
Honorable Council Members:

http://mcclintock.house.gov/2011/12/...-hr-3544.shtml
Bruce L. Kranz
City Manager
City of Colfax

[editor]

From: Ken Delfino
Date: Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Subject: Congressman McClintock Introduces H.R. 3544 - STOP PLUNDERING CITIES
To:


Dear friends and colleagues:
Last year the City of Colfax made national news when Congressman McClintock addressed our city's battle with an environmental law firm. To paraphrase the congressman, we were 'being plundered by this environmental law firm'.
I am forwarding a request from our mayor and at the bottom is a link to the House Resolution 3544. While Congressman McClintock and our Counselor MIck Cabral authored this with Colfax in mind, this will will apply to EVERY COMMUNITY in the United States, no matter how large or small it is.
What I ask of you is to call your three elected officials -- your representative in the House and the two in the Senate -- and ask them to suppport House Resolution 3544 that was introduced by Congressman McClintock...and then please pass this on to your friends and relatives in other states.
My council colleagues, our citizens and I will greatly appreciate any support you can give us which will...ultimately end up helping your communities as well.


God Bless America!



Respectfully requested,
Ken Delfino
Councilman
City of Colfax, CA

[editor]

From: The BOSTWO
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 10:57 AM
Subject: Fwd: Congressman McClintock Introduces H.R. 3544 - STOP PLUNDERING CITIES

IMPORTANT! See email from Colfax and bill H.R.3544 below. Please forward.

Thank you,

Ray Nutting
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors
530) 621-5651