State ban on a gold-mining method stands

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge Monday to California’s ban on suctiondredge mining for gold, a technique that extracts minerals from riverbeds while dumping residue that can include toxic mercury back into the environment.

The high-pressure underwater vacuums, used mostly in mountain and foothill waterways, have been prohibited by the state since 2009. Brandon Rinehart, who holds a federal mining claim in the Plumas National Forest, argued in a lawsuit that the state was effectively prohibiting gold mining in the area and that federal law forbids state interference with mining on federal lands.

A state appeals court ruled in Rinehart’s favor but the California Supreme Court overruled the decision in August 2016. In a unanimous decision, the court said federal law for at least 130 years has left environmental regulation of mining largely up to the states.

Although Congress allows mining on federal lands, “states can place limits on effective but environmentally destructive methods,” nowretired Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar said in the ruling.

Rinehart, backed by mining companies, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court but ran into opposition from the Trump administration, which has rarely sided with environmental advocates.

In a Dec. 6 filing, Justice Department lawyers urged the court to let the California ruling stand. Federal law “does not ... regulate the practice of mining” or its impact on the environment, government lawyers said, so the state can regulate or prohibit harmful mining practices. The filing also noted that California was considering rules that might allow some types of suctiondredge mining.

The high court denied review Monday without comment.

Attorney Jonathan Wood of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented Rinehart, said he was disappointed by the decision. But he said the issue would be back before the justices soon in other cases pending in lower courts on state regulation of mining on federal lands.

In its ban on suction-dredge mining, Wood contended, “California has tried to veto Congress’ decisions about how federal lands should be used.”

Suction dredging vacuums earth and gravel from river bottoms, runs it through a sluice box that separates the heaviest substances, including gold, and discharges the rest back into the waterway. State regulators say the practice has contaminated fish with mercury and damaged the habitat of endangered coho salmon.

California started requiring permits for suction dredging in 1961, made some waterways off limits in 1975 and halted the permits in 2009 with a moratorium that later was extended indefinitely.

The case is Rinehart vs. California, 16-970.