Tom Kitchar (Waldo Mining District President) in Oregon is leading the charge on a petition to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. The petition is something AMRA signed onto immediately and we cannot stress enough how important it is to send a simple little letter yourselves supporting this Miners Petition to these gentlemen in the Trump Administration.
Although this post may be lengthy, it will include a simple letter we wrote to these Secretary’s, their addresses and how we believe this over-regulation by the states impacts us and the communities we live in. Please send a letter and share to your friends.
From Tom Kitchar, Waldo Mining District President:
On June 18, 2019, the Waldo & Galice Mining Districts of S.W. Oregon, along with nine other western mining orgs sent a Petition for Rulemaking to Secretary of Interior Bernhardt and Secretary of Agriculture Purdue requesting they change or amend the BLM & USFS mining regulations to stop states from endangering or materially interfering with mining on Lands of the United States open to mining under the 1872 Mining Law. LETTERS OF SUPPORT need to be sent to both Secretaries ASAP from all who love mining. For more information, to read the Petition, see a Sample Letter and Talking Points please go to: www.waldominingdistrict.org PLEASE! After being denied a hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court in the Bohmker case, this proposed Rule making is our best hope to turn things around and get miners back in the water.
For a direct link to Waldo Mining District, click “home” below and it will take you directly to Waldo’s pagehttps://www.waldominingdistrict.org
Do it today!
Do it tomorrow… and keep sending letters until they agree to amend the regulations.
WHY? Because in 1955 the Mining Law was amended to give the United States the authority to manage the “non-mineral” resources on unpatented mining claims, with the provision that any use by the United States, its licensees or permittees, may not endanger or materially interfere with mining (30 U.S.C. Sec. 612(b)). At the minimum, this has been taken to mean the BLM or USFS cannot prohibit mining. However, in the early 2000’s the BLM & USFS amended their mining regulations to require that miners obtain ALL STATE REQUIRED PERMITS… without setting any limit of state restrictions. In fact, the BLM regs state that the states can set more stringent requirements than required by federal law!
This raises the QUESTION: How can the BLM or USFS give states the authority to do what they themselves are barred from doing (i.e.; materially interfere)?
ANSWER: Legally, they can’t… but just remember Who was the President at that time…
For additional information, go tohttps://www.waldominingdistrict.org
AMRA’s letter to Washington DC:
AMRA
PO Box 467
Coulterville CA 95311
David Bernhardt July 1, 2019
Secretary of the Interior U.S. Department of Interior
1849 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240
Sonny Perdue
Secretary of Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Sirs,
AMRA, American Mining Rights Association is the nations largest small mining advocacy association and we are writing to you today in support of the Miners Petition submitted by the Waldo and Galice Mining Districts in Oregon (among others). AMRA is a 501(c)(3) based in California and rather than go into a lengthy diatribe on who we are, we’d rather just say we represent tens of thousands of members, supporters and followers of our efforts for small miners all across America.
Since the early 1990’s, we have seen regulatory and management agencies slowly, but steadily usurp federal law, enact rule-making which is destroying not only the small miners, but the rural communities which rely on the money spent by the miners to keep the doors open to their cafe’s, gas stations, motels and grocery stores. States like Oregon, California, Washington and now even Idaho are disguising prohibitions as “save the fish” or a litany of other environmental cries. None of it is based on science, but ideology and the miners have been over-regulated to the point of extinction. A once vibrant and thriving component of America’s economy is being wiped out just like the loggers in Oregon and the spotted owl fiasco.
We implore you gentlemen to talk to the small mining community, to read and consider this Miners Petition seriously. A lot of people are being crushed right now and they desperately need your help.
We are available anytime, day or night to discuss how bad this community of nearly 1,000,000 people nation wide is being impacted by those intent on making America not so great again.
Sincerely,
Mr. Shannon Poe
President AMRA
(209) 878-3910