Gold miners near Chicken (Alaska) cry foul over 'heavy-handed' EPA raids

It seems the EPA launched a heavy duty 'raid' of sorts in a small Alaskan mining town.

Only a few people live there.

The 'raid' was conducted and they were supposedly there to make a water quality check !!

The supposed 'inspectors' were all dressed up in swat outfits.

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich started looking into the affair and it seems that somebody thought there was “rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area”.

Very suspicious ? Or just an 'over reaction' ? Or was it a 'training' exercise ?

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.

Read for all the details;
Gold miners near Chicken cry foul over 'heavy-handed' EPA raids

reply to post by xuenchen


Well you know how it is when you get off at the wrong stop.
They should have deployed in Barrow.

Whoops! Everybody Screws Up Now and Then.

I myself am a Master at that.

S&F

Pay no Attention to the man behind the curtain, The Great and powerful Oz has spoken.

There are such things as unsafe mining practices (using mercury, etc.). Perhaps THEY suspected the miners were doing something illegal that was also unsafe for the community? Still way overkill.

All those paid individuals and gear... Couldn't all that money help the world in better ways than wasting all those resources (fuel, tax dollars, etc.)?

You know, for a nation that everyone in the world now knows has enough spy tech running 24/7 to see / usually hear and always reach everyone, anywhere? They sure insist on using caveman tactics like they enjoy it or something.

There isn't anything secret about much of the primary tech anymore and if anyone believes that real time satellite they just put up in a record launch only has a resolution of what they're claiming...I can't seem to sell that stupid bridge of mine. I'll give ya the deal of a lifetime on it.

I'm NOT for the idea of totality of surveillance. I'd prefer we have none of it. Then again, I'd prefer we not have the crime these cops at least occasionally handle (or even they don't keep a job forever). Given that neither is going to happen, likely in my lifetime? Then WHY oh WHY can't they use these 'Super-Duper' billion dollar orbiting eyes to LOOK for a change and not storm places like the Allies on D-DAY?!

Just a little pet peeve. When armed incursion (as it really IS starting to become at times) is the alternative? Sheesh... We HAVE the satellites anyway. Use the stupid things and save everyone the trauma. They could have seen such dastardly deeds in such a small place or....NOT, as the case happened to BE.

reply to post by xuenchen


It's the EPA swinging their nuts around after the state of Alaska "disrespected" them over the agency's completely uneducated, uninformed stance against Pebble Mine. This is absolutely an example of how the government will eventually get back at you if you fail to genuflect enough in their presence.

My vote would be for training exercise...

I read about this a few days ago, and according the the spokesman for the troopers, they never reported ANY kind of rampant drug or human trafficking in the area. There in absolutely no reason that they shouldn't have just walked up to people's doors and followed typical procedures. These miners are running small operations, and used to dealing with environmental agencies.

I agree that they aren't happy with the pebble issue. That in itself is a joke, I have seen photos of the proposed site, and it looks nothing like the anti pebble commercials portray.