KPLU wrote a great piece on my suction dredging bill. Suction dredges are aquatic vacuums used by miners to collect and sort precious metals at the bottom of river beds. The practice can harm fish habitats and their spawning grounds.
Washington is the only state left in the Pacific Northwest where people mining for gold and other minerals are allowed to use motorized vacuums in riverbeds.
The practice is known as suction dredge mining, and some are concerned it’s harmful to endangered fish. A bill before the legislature would place new restrictions on it while its impacts are studied.
Rep. Gael Tarleton, D-Seattle, is the prime sponsor of the legislation. It directs the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a work group to study the effects of motorized mineral prospecting on native fish and their habitat.
Tarleton told a packed house committee that Washington lags behind its neighbors in addressing the issue.