Friends of the Inyo eNewsletter
Get monthly updates on what’s happening with the organization and more information on public lands issues in the Eastern Sierra.
Policy
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lands in the Eastern Sierra.
Exploration
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Stewardship
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California’s State Mining and Geology Board (SMGB) is under pressure from the mining industry to weaken regulations that could pave the way to expanded open pit mining—including industrial-scale cyanide heap leach mining at Conglomerate Mesa. Current California mining laws are some of the strongest in the nation and include stringent backfill requirements which result in many mining proposals being economically infeasible. The SMGB (which has no environmental representative), has issued a “Notice of Pre-Rulemaking Workshop and Public Comment period” to “review, and possibly revise, state policy pertaining to Performance Standards for Backfilling Excavations and Recontouring Lands Disturbed by Open Pit Surface Mining…
Exploratory Drilling Approved at Conglomerate Mesa The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a decision allowing exploration for gold at conglomerate mesa, a remote and wild corner of Inyo county adjacent to Death Valley National Park. This decision endangers the area’s recreation- and tourism-based economy, delicate water supply, and uniquely important ecosystem and cultural resources. Click here to read our .pdf press release or see the text version below, and sign up on our mailing list to receive updates from us on Conglomerate Mesa and the Perdito project as they develop. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 18, 2018 Contact: Wendy Schneider, (310)…
Urge your Representative to Oppose the House Farm Bill H.R. 2 The Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2) is brimming with attacks on America’s bedrock environmental laws and our national forests. The House Farm Bill includes numerous Congressional exemptions for up to 6,000-acre forestry projects, including exemptions from public input and other critical environmental review. Such exemptions would prioritize logging over clean water, recreation, and wildlife. Please call your Representative and tell them you oppose H.R. 2 This bill promotes logging over other uses of public lands and creates backward incentives that would shift emphasis and funding from…