For the several weeks Public Lands for the People (PLP) have had there nose to the grindstone on 3 ongoing legal issues. Of course one of those important issues was the Karuk v. DFG tax payer lawsuit where Judge Roesche put in place an Injunction that prevented the Ca. DFG from issuing suction dredge permits. Although the Injunction did not cancel those permits that had already been issued for 2009 it didn't take long for the Ca. Legislature to come along with SB 670 and stop those who already had permits and close all of the waters in the state to suction dredge mining.
PLP and other plaintiffs have filed an appeal in the California Appellate Court for the Karuk Tribe etal vs. California Department of Fish and Game taxpayer lawsuit and Injunction. The Karuk attempted to bring new evidence into the Appellate Court, that is evidence that was not brought up in the original case. PLP made a motion to strike the new evidence and opposed the Karuk Tribe etal attempt to bring in new evidence into the arguments in the appellate court.
PLP and other plaintiffs have recently filed another state lawsuit against the State of California, the Department of Fish and Game and Governor Schwarzenegger for implementing SB 670 which closed all of the waterways in the state. This complaint alleges violations of both the California and the Federal Constitutions, the Mining Act of 1872, Federal Commerce Clause, Equal Protection Act and the California Water Laws.
The 3rd lawsuit that PLP has filed is an Amended Complaint on Eldorado National Forest and their Travel Management Plan which essentially closes almost all dirt roads either part of or all of the year. Everyone is affected by the Travel Management Plan as far as access to the Forest, particularlly miners and prospectors with mining claims. The Eldorado National Forest solution to this problem is that the prospectors and miners can submit a Plan of Operations to get access to the forest or the mining claims. It is PLP's position that the Forest Service is not only violating federal law, including the mining law but they are also violating their own regualtions (36 CFR 228.4 A-1(i)). This lawsuit whether it is won or lost will affect all National Forests, either in the National Forest users favor if won or against the National Forests users if lost.
Even though PLP has been quiet on the websites for obvious reasons, mainly because we are not the only entities that read the sites, We are continuing on a path to keep our public lands open and our rights intact. With this in mind we understand that when these issues are out of sight they are also out of mind and our donations have fallen off drastically. PLP's expenses continue and we need to rehabilitate our coffers to continue what we are doing. So if you folks can dig in to your pockets and help us out we would appreciate it very much. PLP would also like to thank all of those who have supported us in the past and continue to support us.
Don't forget that we have another great Raffle with some very nice prizes donated by other great supporters of the cause. There is a list of the raffle prizes in this newsletter and the California Mining Journal. Please consider buying some of the tickets or joining PLP. The cost for Raffle tickets is $1.00 each or 12 for $10.00.
Thanks to all of our loyal supporters over the last 20 years.
Jerry Hobbs
PLP President
You can reach Jerry Hobbs at 909-889-3039 or email at jerhobbs2@verizon.net or www.PLP2.org