IDAHO, USA — One resource is crucial for Idaho's irrigation and recreation: water.
The liquid lifelines of Idaho had been the subject of a years-long legal battle over a dredge mining operation in North Idaho's Clearwater River.
The saga has come to an end after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal, affirming lower court's decisions that a California miner was found to have violated the Clean Water Act by not getting the required pollution permits to dredge.
The Idaho Conservation League says dredge mining can damage riverbeds and release dangerous metals into the water. The group filed a lawsuit against California dredge miner Shannon Poe in 2018 after he operated in the South Fork of the Clearwater River without permits required under the Clean Water Act.
"For years, we've seen issues with suction dredge mining in Idaho, where dredge miners didn't have the appropriate permit, or were dredge mining and sensitive habitat for endangered, threatened and sensitive species," Idaho Conservation League Government Relations Director Jonathan Oppenheimer said.
The violations took place in 2014, 2015 and 2018.
The miner's attorneys argued Poe did not need a permit because his suction dredge was not adding pollutants that were not already in the river.
"You can disturb the stream bottom, and you can stir up sediments that have been in place for years," Oppenheimer said. "Along with mercury, lead, cadmium and other pollutants that may be in the soil."
The section of the river that was being dredged also contained federally protected salmon and steelhead.
"If there are insects or fish eggs that are in any of those gravels and in those rocks, it can kill them or disturb them so that they're not able to reproduce," Oppenheimer said.
The case was taken to district court - and later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who both ruled Poe violated the Clean Water Act. In 2022, the district court fined the miner $150,000.
The Supreme Court rejected a petition to appeal earlier this month, putting an end to the case.
"I think it should send a message to anyone out there, if you're thinking about dredge mining or doing some other activity without a legal permit," Oppenheimer said. "You should think twice - because it can be a costly mistake."
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