Bill Text: CA SJR3 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Smith River watershed protection.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 51-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-07-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 93, Statutes of 2015. [SJR3 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SJR3-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SJR 3 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 93
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 6, 2015
ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2015
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 17, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator McGuire
(Principal coauthor: Senator Pavley)
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Wood)
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Hertzberg, and Leno)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Dodd, Levine, Mark Stone, Williams,
Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Burke, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu,
Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Eggman, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo
Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin,
Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Thurmond, Ting, and Weber)
JANUARY 21, 2015
Relative to the Smith River watershed.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 3, McGuire. Smith River watershed protection.
This measure would urge the President of the United States and
Congress to permanently safeguard the currently unprotected North
Fork of the Smith River watershed in Oregon from any mining
activities that would have the potential impacts on water supplies,
economies, or the environment in California's portion of the Smith
River watershed.
WHEREAS, The Smith River watershed of approximately 610 square
miles in California and 115 square miles in Oregon has been
considered the prize of the California wild and scenic river system
since the time it was included in the California Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act in 1972, and then later included in the National Wild and
Scenic Rivers System in 1981; and
WHEREAS, The Smith River is the indirect primary source of
drinking water for the majority of Del Norte County's 28,000
residents, with the largest user being the City of Crescent City; and
WHEREAS, The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and the City
Council of Crescent City have voted unanimously to oppose the
issuance of a limited water use license for the Cleopatra Check
Drilling Program based on the potential to cause significant adverse
environmental impacts within the overall watershed of the Smith River
and subsequent impacts on drinking water for residents and thousands
of annual visitors; and
WHEREAS, The California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Natural Resources
Agency, and the Oregon Water Resources Department have also opposed
any mining within the Smith River watershed because of the
detrimental effects of strip mining; and
WHEREAS, The Smith River is unparalleled for its free-flowing
status, large and abundant salmon and steelhead stock, and
extraordinary botanical diversity, and is the only major undammed
river in California; and
WHEREAS, The Smith River National Recreation Area Act, passed by
the 101st United States Congress in 1990 (Public Law 101-612),
amended the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 and
permanently protected all federal lands of the Smith River watershed
within California by establishing the Smith River National Recreation
Area; and
WHEREAS, The Oregon portion of the North Fork of the Smith River
was not included in the act and remains vulnerable to mining; and
WHEREAS, Any strip mining activities on the North Fork of the
Smith River could have devastating and irreversible impacts to the
entire National Wild and Scenic Smith River watershed; and
WHEREAS, In 2012, the Red Flat Nickel Corporation submitted the
Cleopatra Check Drilling Program Plan for the watershed of the North
Fork of the Smith River to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest,
with the goals to develop and operate a devastating 3,980-acre strip
mine to extract nickel, cobalt, and chromium; and
WHEREAS, The proposed mining operations will unnecessarily put the
people and wildlife that rely on the Smith River at risk; and
WHEREAS, The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
confirmed that hard rock mining, which includes strip mining, is the
largest source of toxic pollution in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture's Technical
Guide to Managing Ground Water Resources documents numerous published
reports concerning the release of toxic metals to groundwater and
surface water resulting from mines and mine-related facilities; and
WHEREAS, Mining operations along the tributaries of the Smith
River would inevitably impact water quality and quantity with the
potential to cause significant injury to fish and other wildlife,
including threatened coho salmon; and
WHEREAS, The Smith River's coho salmon are protected under the
federal Endangered Species Act and are recognized as a core
independent population with a high risk of extinction; and
WHEREAS, The Smith River is one of California's most important,
irreplaceable watersheds for the threatened coho salmon; and
WHEREAS, The Chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, and steelhead runs
are vitally important to the economies and environment of northern
California and Oregon; and
WHEREAS, Millions of federal, state, and private dollars have been
spent in the past decades on improving water supply systems and for
restoration and protection of salmonid habitat and watershed lands
downstream from the proposed mining operations; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President of the
United States and Congress to permanently safeguard the currently
unprotected North Fork of the Smith River watershed in Oregon from
any mining activities that would have potential impacts on water
supplies, economies, or the environment in California's portion of
the Smith River watershed; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
