MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A federal magistrate in Medford has recommended a gold miner pay nearly $200,000 in fines and attorney's fees and stop working his claim on a Southern Oregon salmon stream.
Donald Bean of Central Point told the Mail Tribune that he expected the finding filed this week in U.S. District Court in Medford.
Court records say Bean acted as his own attorney and never responded to the Clean Water Act case brought by Rogue Riverkeeper.
Bean started working the claim on federal land along Sucker Creek outside Cave Junction in 2010, after his construction business went sour.
Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke found that he failed to get the proper permits for discharging pollutants into the creek, and his excavations harmed habitat for coho salmon, a threatened species.
___
Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/
©2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
