A legislative Catch-22 may put a permanent stop to controversial suction dredge mining, which has been halted by a moratorium since 2009.

Budget language approved in May by committees in both houses of the California Legislature would extend the moratorium for five years, or until there are sufficient regulations to mitigate all impacts of the dredging and a fee structure to cover program costs.

At the same time, the language would prohibit the state Department of Fish and Game – which administers suction dredging – from spending any money to develop regulations to end the moratorium.

It is "Catch-22 language," said Fish and Game Director John McCamman, who got lawmakers to at least allow funding for enforcement of the moratorium.

Gold miners worry that the budget will scuttle suction dredging for a long time to come.

"It isn't for five years, it's forever," said mining advocate Rachel Dunn.

Suction dredging is a highly controversial method of extracting gold from riverbeds by sucking up gravel and separating the valuable minerals by gravity. It has been widely practiced in Sierra rivers and streams.

El Dorado, Placer and Sierra counties are three of the state's five most popular dredging areas, according to the most recent survey of permit holders.

Suction dredging has been widely criticized by environmentalists, American Indian groups and commercial and recreational anglers for its environmental hazards.

"We just have a lot more higher and more important things to find funding for," said Assembly member Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who pushed the language in the lower house.

A bill analysis for the measure says Fish and Game's suction dredging program – including inspections, enforcement and regulation – is costing at least $2 million a year.

"No, it's not," countered Mark Hepfner who, dredged in the Foresthill area until the 2009 moratorium. "They've got the numbers all wrong."

Dredging's supporters claim legislative staffers underestimated revenue and overestimated some costs, but Huffman said it's miners who have the wrong numbers.

Whatever the details are, "the bottom line is the program doesn't come close to paying for itself," said Steve Evans, conservation director for Friends of the River, a critic of dredge mining.

The miners also claim they're adding $23 million to the state's economy and that 4,000 people – the approximate number of permits issued annually in the past – will be put out of work.

Many of those permits go to part-time dredge miners, according to a Fish and Game survey.

Their economic impact pales in comparison with those who benefit from stopping dredging, said Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Karuk Tribe, which sued to stop dredging on the Klamath River.

"There's 2 million fishing permits sold each year," Tucker said. That generates ecotourism dollars far beyond the miners, he said.

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