Opinion ID: 214218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Regulation of Suction Dredge Mining

Text: An approved NOI is required for any suction dredge mining that  might cause significant disturbance of surface resources. 36 C.F.R. § 228.4(a) (emphasis added). An approved PoO is required for suction dredge mining that  will likely cause significant disturbance of surface resources. Id. § 228.4(a)(3) (emphasis added). That is, an approved NOI is required for all suction dredge mining for which the likelihood of a significant disturbance of surface resources falls between might cause and will likely cause. The Department of Agriculture defines surface resources as including underwater fisheries . . . habitat. Id. § 228.8(e). See 70 Fed.Reg. at 32718 (Section 228.8 characterizes fisheries habitat as a `National Forest surface resource[.]' . . . Fisheries habitat, of course, can consist of nothing other than water, streambeds, or other submerged lands.). The Department recognizes that the effects of suction dredge mining vary substantially from one site to another. It wrote in a 2005 commentary: The environmental impacts of operating suction dredges, even small ones, are highly site-specific depending on the circumstances and resource conditions. . . . Given this variability, the Department believes that, insofar as suction dredge operations are concerned, the need for the prior submission of a notice of intent to operate or for the prior submission and approval of a proposed plan of operations must be evaluated on a site-specific basis. 70 Fed.Reg. at 32720. The Department has made clear, in a response to a comment directed to 36 C.F.R. § 228.4(a), that an NOI for suction dredge mining is not a regulatory instrument, but rather simply . . . a notice given to the Forest Service by an operator which describes the operator's plan to conduct operations on NFS lands. Id. at 32728; 36 C.F.R. § 228.4(a)(2) (The District Ranger will, within 15 days of a notice of intent to operate, notify the operator if approval of a plan of operations is required before the operations may begin.). However, in that same response, the Department also made clear that requirements for NOIs vary substantially depending on the site: [T]here can be no definitive answer to the question of what level of activity requires the submission of a notice of intent to conduct operations. As previously mentioned . . ., given the variability of the lands within the NFS subject to the United States mining laws, identical operations could have vastly different effects depending upon the conditions of the lands and other surface resources which would be affected by those mining operations. . . . [I]n many cases the need for the submission of a notice of intent to operate must be determined based upon a case-by-case evaluation of the proposed operations and the kinds of lands and other surface resources involved. 70 Fed.Reg. at 32728 (emphasis added). The majority writes that the Forest Service decision to allow mining to proceed under an NOI is most accurately described as a decision not to act. This is a critical point, and the majority is wrong. The Forest Service makes an actual decision whether to allow suction dredging to proceed pursuant to an NOI. As I will describe in detail below, there are seven NOIs in the record in this case. One was withdrawn. Of the remaining six, the Forest Service acted affirmatively to approve four and to deny two. There is no non-withdrawn NOI in the record that the Forest Service did not act affirmatively to approve or deny. The miners whose NOIs were approved each received a letter from the Forest Service District Ranger stating that You may begin your mining operations when you obtain all applicable state and federal permits (emphasis added). No miner was allowed to engage in suction dredge mining under an NOI unless that NOI had been explicitly approved by the Forest Service.