August 1, 2023 3:40 a.m.

On Thursday, 4th District Congresswoman Val Hoyle introduced legislation she says would protect southwestern Oregon rivers from mining pollution.

Hoyle said The Southwestern Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection act is legislation to enact a mining withdrawal that would ensure certain federal lands are permanently ‘withdrawn” from eligibility for mining claims, protecting them from toxic mining pollution.

Hoyle’s release said SOWSPA would permanently prevent new mining projects in the Hunter Creek, Pistol River, Rough and Ready Creek, and Baldface Creek watersheds in southwestern Oregon, extending the current twenty-year ban that began in 2016.

Hoyle said she has heard from conservationists, business owners and elected officials from Curry County and northern California who depend on the southwestern Oregon watershed for clean drinking water, outdoor recreation, tourism jobs and the protection of salmon, wildlife, and rare plants. Hoyle said, “Congress must act to make the current protections against mining pollution permanent”. Hoyle said, “I’m proud to stand with the people of Southwestern Oregon in defending our world-class rivers and streams from foreign mining corporations who don’t have the commitment to our community and our environment”.

Hoyle said the legislation would protect high-quality salmon and steelhead strongholds, clean drinking water in Curry, Josephine and Del Norte counties, an active outdoor recreation and tourism economy, a high concentration of rare plants including the cobra lily, and a one-of-a-kind collection of National Wild and Scenic rivers – the Rogue, Smith, Illinois and Chetco.