California, the state built on gold prospecting, is set to outlaw ... gold prospecting

``[Environmentalists] persuaded California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to agree to a two-year moratorium on suction dredging in 2009 while scientists compile an impact report... It recommends that the dredging can carry on, but under a strict set of conditions dictating the size of the machines and when they can be used... But opponents of dredging, with the help of Democratic state assemblyman Jared Huffman, have managed to amend California's proposed budget in a way that will extend the moratorium for at least five years, and maybe forever.''