Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gold miners near Chicken cry foul over 'heavy-handed' EPA raids
When agents with the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force surged out of the wilderness around the remote community of Chicken wearing body armor and jackets emblazoned with POLICE in big, bold letters, local placer miners didn’t quite know what to think.
Did it really take eight armed men and a squad-size display of paramilitary force to check for dirty water? Some of the miners, who run small businesses, say they felt intimidated.
Others wonder if the actions of the agents put everyone at risk. When your family business involves collecting gold far from nowhere, unusual behavior can be taken as a sign someone might be trying to stage a robbery. How is a remote placer miner to know the people in the jackets saying POLICE really are police?
Miners suggest it might have been better all around if officials had just shown up at the door -- as they used to do -- and said they wanted to check the water.
Despite its name, the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force consists primarily of federal agents from the EPA, FBI, and National Guard. There was only one member from the State of Alaska on the scene, and he was not wearing body-armor.
The fact that they were armed is not surprising, and expected, considering the remote location. However, the body-armor and sending 8 people to check on the water quality to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act is completely irrational and over the top.
Normally, when it is just the State of Alaska involved, one individual shows up and lets the miners know that they are there to check the water quality to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. This is routine. The State inspects all mines in Alaska every year, sometimes more than once a year.
When the EPA was asked to explain their absurd heavy-handed tactics they deliberately lied, claiming that the Alaska State Troopers told them that this extremely remote area had "rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area."
The Alaska State Troopers emphatically denied ever telling the EPA any such thing.
If the EPA, FBI, and National Guard were trying to get people killed, this was a very good way to go about it. Due to the remote locations of these mines, the miners are armed for bear. Which means that the body-armor would have done them little good against high-powered large-caliber rifles.
You know the EPA existed before Obama took office right? I mean saying that it is Obama's EPA is sort of childish. Also, perhaps you'd prefer to have your weekend of fishing look like this...
Essentially, you made a post whining that the EPA showed up over-prepared for what they were doing. I don't get why it's noteworthy. I don't know much of anything about how they operated, but I'm guessing that they've probably run into trouble in the past somewhere. Either way, who really cares.
You know the EPA existed before Obama took office right? I mean saying that it is Obama's EPA is sort of childish. Also, perhaps you'd prefer to have your weekend of fishing look like this...
Essentially, you made a post whining that the EPA showed up over-prepared for what they were doing. I don't get why it's noteworthy. I don't know much of anything about how they operated, but I'm guessing that they've probably run into trouble in the past somewhere. Either way, who really cares.
The EPA answers to the President. In case you had not noticed Obama is currently the President. Had this occurred while Bush was President, they would be Bush's EPA. Get a clue.
What part of the EPA deliberately lied in order to provoke a conflict are you not able to comprehend?
Next time there will be a lot of dead EPA, FBI, and National Guard members, since that is what you obviously prefer. Typical Obamabot apologist.
You know the EPA existed before Obama took office right? I mean saying that it is Obama's EPA is sort of childish. Also, perhaps you'd prefer to have your weekend of fishing look like this...
Essentially, you made a post whining that the EPA showed up over-prepared for what they were doing. I don't get why it's noteworthy. I don't know much of anything about how they operated, but I'm guessing that they've probably run into trouble in the past somewhere. Either way, who really cares.
What does gold mining in Alaska have to do with dead fish in China?
The fact that they were armed is not surprising, and expected, considering the remote location. However, the body-armor and sending 8 people to check on the water quality to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act is completely irrational and over the top.
It doesn't take much to find people who have brutal and antagonistic views toward abiding by federal law, and have made thinly veiled insinuations about their willingness to use violence against authorities that seek to establish their violations and/or take action to remedy such situations. And that's just here on C-D. The assumption that there are people, on the ground, in Alaska, including those keeping their mouths shut (fingers still) about their antipathy and penchant to use violence to try to avoid compliance, is quite rational - very very sound prudence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glitch
Normally, when it is just the State of Alaska involved, one individual shows up and lets the miners know that they are there to check the water quality to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. This is routine. The State inspects all mines in Alaska every year, sometimes more than once a year.
Just from what you're saying, I see an implication that state officials are corrupt. I bet you didn't intend to imply that, but you did, because there is no other rational explanation for the difference in regard the miners pay toward state officials versus federal officials. Keep in mind that the EPA had found violations at Fortymile River for twelve quarters in a row from 04/09-05/12 (the latest periods for which violations are published, so far). Neighboring areas have a similar record of consistent violations, quarter after quarter after quarter. This is not an area where people have a long history of abiding by the law.
And, by the way, assumptions that federal officials will find violations that aren't there, or that the federal officials should be willing to take bribes to look the other way, are "completely irrational and over the top".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glitch
When the EPA was asked to explain their absurd heavy-handed tactics they ... [claimed] that the Alaska State Troopers told them that this extremely remote area had "rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area."
Please post a video of the EPA official stating this, rather than just referring to it in a second- or third-hand report. There is simply too much antipathy for the federal government floating around to believe whatever people decided to claim they were told by federal officials. The state's elected officials have to pander to their constituents, but short of a video of an EPA official actually stating this, it's easily dismissed as sour grapes-inspired balderdash.
Probably the most important aspect of the news story is that there is not a single verifiable statement from federal officials. Reporting statements third hand indicates the lack of concern about fair and balanced reporting at the Alaska Dispatch. They built their article around what they claim that an unnamed Senate staffer claimed that an unnamed EPA official said off-the-record as if it were an official, verified statement of fact. Watch the RWNJs in the blogosphere do the same. They state that the EPA has refused to provide a public statement, so apparently used that as Carte Blanche to throw responsible reporting out the window.
It would be ridiculous for a federal official to state something publicly that is both incorrect and readily verifiable as incorrect, so the smart money is that the claim that the federal official actually said what is alleged is false. Of course, the dumb money is that federal officials are cads and idiots, and given that was the tenor of the article's accusations in the first place, it wouldn't be surprising if there were some folks like that among those interviewed for the story.
Don't get me wrong. The federal government may have done something wrong. But that's not where the smart money should put its bets, given how incredibly flaky the circumstances are around this report.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
