Washington State Miner: Sneak Attack Continues RE: HPA Fee Bill

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Sneak Attack Continues RE: HPA Fee Bill

As posted here on Monday, a public hearing on SSB 5862, the substitute HPA fee bill, was held on Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Ways & Means.

We now learn, via the Resources Coalition and Bruce Beatty, that a second substitute bill (P2SSB 5862) has been proposed as the result of a meeting between the Governor's Office and some "HPA program Stakeholders" and from which meeting the Small Scale Mineral Prospecting and Mining Community was excluded.

It is important to read the text of this new legislation which may be downloaded as a PDF file here. (Note: This file will open in a pdf reader although it does not have a .pdf extension. You may have to manually select your pdf reader in order to view this file.) But, in summary, the bill is poorly written and, if enacted, would severely restrict, if not eliminate, one's ability to prospect or mine in this state.

Accordingly, here is a link to a somewhat lengthy list of talking points to use when contacting the government departments listed below: P2SSB 5862Talking Points PDF

Senate Committee on Ways & Means - to request that this bill not be allowed to go forward and cite your concerns.

Governor's Office - to ask why was the Small Scale Mineral Prospecting and Mining community was not a part of her meetings regarding this legislation and cite your concerns.

Your Senator and Representative - to inform them of this legislation and of your concerns. Request that they take whatever steps that they can to stop this legislation.

Your Local County, City, and Dike Districts - to inform them of this legislation. They need to know your position as a taxpayer who will ultimately end up paying for this legislation. Just because they may not obtain an HPA or FPA, they will be on the hook for prosecuting violators.

Furthermore, if you wish to call or write the Governor's Office, the contact information is listed below:

Phone: 360-902-4111

Fax: 360-753-4110

Mailing Address:

Governor Chris Gregoire
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

3 comments:

Don Bangert said...: I see where the bill defines hydraulic project:
"(8) "Hydraulic project" means ... (vi) Mineral prospecting not covered under the gold and fish pamphlet authorized by RCW 77.55.091 and mining activities adjacent to the ordinary high water line;"
If you're prospecting per the gold and fish pamphlet you should be good to go, right?; April 23, 2011 at 5:31 AM
Tom said...: If you're prospecting per the gold and fish pamphlet you should be good to go, right?

Hopefully. Also in the summary under "Exemptions" (4) it says, "Pamphlet HPAs (small scale mining, aquatic weed control) - $0"

The problem is that nowhere in the bill is there language exempting pamphlet HPAs from fees. That language appears only in the Summary which is not part of the legislation.

Tom; April 23, 2011 at 10:40 AM
mike h. said...: It reads to me that highbanking will pretty much be wiped out if this bill passes since almost all of happens "adjacent" to the high water line.; April 25, 2011 at 1:45 AM