OAG 40-45.

• Case Date: August 23, 1940
• Court: Oregon

Oregon Attorney General Opinions 1940. OAG 40-45. 55OPINION NO. 40-45[20 Or. Op. Atty. Gen. 55]Manner of preventing or controlling deposit in streams by mining companies of material injurious to fish.August 23, 1940.Oregon State Game Commission.Gentlemen: Under date of August 12, 1940, you state that a corporation has a mine on Whiskey creek in Josephine county which is a tributary of the Rogue river; that this is a quartz mine, and the quartz is ground and a cyanide process is used to separate the gold. The effluent is then turned into the creek, and, especially during the low flow of the summer, the creek is very heavy with this waste from the mine. A portion of it finds its way into the Rogue river and, according to the report of your biologist, Dr. Griffiths, it is very toxic to the fish. The corporation operating the mine claims that it is now using ferro-sulphate to neutralize the cyanide in the water but, according to Dr. Griffiths, this neutralization is not sufficient. The effluent takes all of the oxygen from the water and, therefore, the fish life cannot exist. You request my opinion as to the liability of said company, and whether or not a suit requiring the removal of the effluent from the creek would be justifiable under the present law. Section 39-603, Oregon Code 1935 Supplement, provides, among other things:

"It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, company, association or corporation, to put or deposit in any of the rivers, streams, lakes or waters of Oregon, or any artificial canal or ditch in which the waters of said rivers, streams, lakes or waters run, any dead animal carcass, or part thereof, manure, sewage, putrid, decaying or deleterious substance, refuse, waste or polluting matter, or any matter which either by itself or in connection with any other substance which injures fish or will corrupt or impair the quality of the waters of said rivers, streams or lakes for domestic or municipal purposes; or to place any such substance in such position that it shall escape or be carried into said waters by the action of the elements or otherwise."

Section 39-614, Oregon Code 1935 Supplement, provides penalties for violation of any of the provisions of any section or paragraph of said act, which section or paragraph does not in itself specifically provide another or different punishment. Section...