| Topic: Dredging, mining and the opposition to destroy it Posted: Today at 7:21am |
| We feel the frustration and sense the anger from everyone on what we are witnessing in the country right now with the agenda from Regulatory agencies (like the EPA), DFG and USFS seemingly out to stop anyone and everyone from mining on public lands, which the last time we checked were owned by the public. We won't make this highly political, but there is one side of the aisle which is hell bent on destroying small mining. I am new to this forum, but not to mining or fighting to retain our rights. I see many topics and discussions about the dredge moratorium in CA and everyone wants to do something, to stop this madness and don't know what to do. Here is our take on it: A petition has been tried and utterly ignored by Gov. Brown. We also tried this in OR when they were passing the destructive bill this past spring when we worked with the Portland GPAA chapter up there. These are ignored. Personally, I was one of the 6 original plaintiffs who sued the State of CA when the moratorium was passed, that has failed and we are now on another appeal. This will cost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to appeal and we, as the mining community are very poor at raising money to fight for our rights. We still need to support this effort being led by PLP. Because we as a whole stink at raising money for our fight to retain our rights, we formed AMRA. We work hand in hand with PLP and financially support their efforts. Recently, after the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus Natl. Forest, Susan Skalski (Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor) closed a half a million acres of public lands claiming they were off limits to the public because of the fire..........even after it was put out. Skalski was a former Berkeley environmental activist (and coincidentally so is Sally Jewell, our new Secretary of the Interior appointed by Obama), worked her way into the EPA and was appointed by Obama to run our forest. Think she doesn't have an agenda? Think again. After she closed all these roads locking tens of thousands out of their own claims, GPAA included, we went to a televised meeting with her, all the representatives of the USFS and called her out, on TV, in front of the cameras on her agenda. The result? She opened the roads the next day. These people do not like to be exposed for their primary goal and when confronted, they cower, hide and try to avoid confrontation. This is what we do behind the scenes for the mining community. We, like you are fed up as well and will not stand by and watch our passion be taken away from us for some failed ideology or Orwellian Utopia. We are also working on some other issue's, and with the EPA seemingly running rampant with water control and this is the next big challenge for us small miners (think recreational if you will). We are working with a man in Idaho right now who is being told he cannot dredge on his legally filed and valid Federal mining claim because of the "pollutant discharge" from his dredge. Sound familiar? It should. In CA, the CA Water Board is claiming you need a $1200 permit to discharge back into a mud puddle, but they won't issue a permit. See where this is going? Their intent is to deny you the right to mine, to access your public lands and be self reliant, self sufficient. They would rather you depend of Government for all your needs. Did you know that on September 17th of 2012, this Administration signed an Executive Order changing the fee's on mining claims? What used to cost about $165 to file a 160 acre claim now costs $1,241.00. They have changed the fee structure on those who own more than 10 claims, like the GPAA. Now, they are required to pay tens of thousands of dollars per year (per 20 acres, per claim) in new fees. See where this is going? They cannot attack the mining act of 1872, so they do it via regulatory agencies and fees. We are also working with several local Sheriff's on the dredge moratorium we feel is and was passed unconstitutionally. We are convincing some of these Sheriff's to open dredging in their counties not only as a boon to their economy, but to support our legal right to mine. We hope to announce some counties in which dredging will be reopened very soon. This is how to fight back. We need to take this locally and continue the legal challenges by PLP. We aren't doing a sales pitch here folks, quite the contrary. I've invested over $30,000 in AMRA to fight for you, haven't paid myself one single penny, nor do I intend to. It is that important to me and unless we unite, fight back...and hard, we will lose our ability to go out into the woods and find that shiny metal we are so fond of. We formed AMRA because, as stated, we stink at raising money for the fight. AMRA has a lot of gold claims, great claims which anyone who donates $200 to us gets to mine for a year. We have nearly 2000 acres of claims in CA and are expanding to AZ, NV and OR. ALL of the proceeds we take in go to fight for our rights and to support Jerry at PLP. We are so closely partnered with PLP that they donated two of their claims to us. We look at it this way, everyone is going to give the IRS (which by the way have put us in limbo for our 501(c)(3) status like so many other Conservative groups) $200 next April, they in turn will take that $200 and give it to a political party (think supporters of the EPA) to further enact new regulations on our industry, or you can donate it to us, write it off your taxes and join the fight. Plus, you gain access to great claims. It pays you back. Support us, or support PLP, but support all of our passion for mining. We welcome any questions and feedback, good or bad. Remember, we are all on the same side, all are after the same thing.............we just want to be left alone and exercise our RIGHT to mine our claims and our lands as set forth by the 1872 mining act signed by Congress. Mr. Shannon Poe President AMRA, American Mining Rights Association Here is an example of a video we produce: Join The American Mining Rights Association | Stand Up For Your Rights American Mining Rights Association |
| AMRA, great videos, great guys and a relentless fight for your RIGHT to mine and prospect |
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