Californians set to outlaw gold prospecting
6th June 2011
Just 162 years after history’s greatest gold rush, the state’s last remaining prospectors are about to have their way of life declared illegal, amid a long-running battle with salmon-loving environmentalists.
Forward into the past!
The report’s findings are due to come into force in six months. But a few weeks ago, opponents of dredging quietly succeeded in amending California’s proposed budget in a way that will extend the moratorium for at least the next five years – and perhaps for ever.
With the help of a Democratic state assemblyman, Jared Huffman, they had a paragraph in the document changed to prevent the Department of Fish and Game, which compiled the impact report, from spending any money reissuing dredging licences until 2017. And with no money to spend, there is no way to relegalise the practice.
This sort of surreptitious amendment of legislation is more common than you would think, and a rich target for corrupt legislators (and their staff members).