Pubdate: Fri, 02 Aug 2013
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Tracie Cone, Associated Press

POT GROWERS SCARE WATER WATCHERS

Armed Traffickers, Mexican Cartels Protect Polluting Turf

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. (AP) - With parts of Northern California's scenic 
hillsides illegally gouged by bulldozers for marijuana growers, 
frustrated local officials are asking the state for help to protect 
streams and rivers from harmful sediment and the chemicals used on 
the pot plants.

They hoped to charge growers under federal and state clean-water 
regulations with tougher penalties than the infractions local 
officials could impose. But they were rebuffed.

It's too dangerous, the state agency in charge of protecting the 
region's water said in a letter to county supervisors.

"We simply cannot, in good conscience, put staff in harm's way," 
wrote Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board Executive 
Director Paula Creedon.

In many rural counties in California, marijuana farms are becoming 
more and more plentiful. They proliferate in the high Sierra, where 
armed Mexican cartel operatives clear wilderness areas, divert creeks 
and poison wildlife. Smaller gardens are planted by people operating 
as collectives by pooling dozens of permits under the state's medical 
marijuana laws, though many of those are traffickers attempting to 
skirt the law. State law allows a person with a medical permit to 
grow roughly a dozen plants.

Butte County Supervisor Chairman Bill Connelly - frustrated that even 
photos of illegally scraped and terraced hillsides in sensitive 
watersheds didn't persuade the water quality board to act - accused 
the board of not applying the law equally.

"My concern is that legitimate business people get harassed [by the 
agency], but illegal people will not be harassed because they get a 
pass," he said. "They go after the timber industry and farmers."

Penalties can range from cease-and-desist citations to fines of 
$5,000 for each day of the violation to more than $1 million, said 
state water board spokeswoman Kathie Smith.

The issue of large-scale marijuana enforcement and the damage some 
pot farms cause is not new in a region known as the Emerald Triangle, 
for the marijuana that has been produced there for decades. Marijuana 
is the state's biggest cash crop with an estimated $14 billion in 
legal and illegal sales annually.

California wildlife wardens and hikers in the state's remote 
backcountry occasionally happen upon gunmen guarding 
multimillion-dollar pot farms. It's one of the reasons the California 
Department of Fish & Wildlife recently issued its wardens more powerful weapons.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom