BILL NUMBER: SJR 3	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 17, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator McGuire
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Pavley)
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Wood)
   (  Coauthor:   Senator  
Leno   Coauthors:   Senators   Allen
  and Leno  )
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Dodd, Levine, Mark Stone, and
Williams)

                        JANUARY 21, 2015

   Relative to the Smith River watershed.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 3, as amended, 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.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The Smith River watershed of approximately 610 square
miles in California and 115 square miles in Oregon is considered the
prize of the California wild and scenic river system since it was
included in the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1972, and
then later included in the  Federal   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  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;
  watershed;  and
   WHEREAS, In 2012,  the  Red Flat Nickel Corporation
submitted the Cleopatra Check Drilling  Mining  
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  
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  Groundwater   Ground Water
 Resources documents numerous published reports concerning the
release of toxic metals to  ground water 
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.