Senate demands answers on EPA’s armed raid of Alaskan gold mine

Republican senators are demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency after agency officials participated in an armed raid of gold mines near Chicken, Alaska. According to reports, in late August agents of the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force swarmed the mine in groups of four to eight and even went so far as to wear body armor and carry guns while investigating a supposed violation of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. No arrests were made in the raid and no citations were issued. “Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say POLICE emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms,” gold miner C.R. “Dick” Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. “These heavy-handed tactics appear to have been wholly unnecessary,” wrote Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and John Barrasso of Wyoming in a letter to the EPA, “and we therefore request that you immediately accommodate Alaska Governor Sean Parnell’s call for you to review and evaluate how EPA handles [Clean Water Act] violations.” Alaska’s congressional delegation and the state’s governor have also demanded to know why  the EPA decided to send armed officers for a water pollution permit inspection. The EPA said the investigation was launched based on sites with a history of violating the CWA, but the agency refused to publicly explain to why it opted to use fully armed officers for its “multi-jurisdictional” investigation at the mine. On a conference call held in late August, a staffer for an Alaskan senator said that the EPA sent in armed men because it had been given information by Alaska State Troopers regarding “rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area.” That explanation was debunked by a spokeswoman for the state troopers, who said they did not advise the EPA to raid the mine and that there was no evidence of drug and human trafficking occurring...more

Hey Republicans.  You gave them the budget.  You allowed them to be trained in military style tactics. You gave them the weapons and the body armor.  You gave them the authority to conduct these type raids.  And now you expect them to not use the dollars, training, weapons and authority?

Cut their budget, take their toys away and limit their authority.  If the EPA needs law enforcement presence during an inspection, they can use the FBI or local law enforcement.   Sending a letter and making a few public statements will change nothing, and you know it.