FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Gov. Sean Parnell said Thursday he has ordered an investigation of recent raids by federal and state officials at mines in the Fortymile River area, saying he will not tolerate a state agency's participation in the sort of conduct displayed.
Enforcement officers with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management were armed and wore body armor, according to Parnell.
He said an investigator with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation joined the agents, who said they were looking for violations of the Clean Water Act. Parnell said no one was arrested and no one was cited.
"This level of intrusion and intimidation of Alaskans is absolutely unacceptable," he said in a statement Thursday.
Go to the linked story for the rest.
Early reports of this SWAT team raid on a small-scale mining camps pointed out that, 140 miles from Fairbanks (the nearest big city), these folks have more encounters with Federal officials than with other Alaskans.
That's just wrong.
8 comments:
Good for him.
Agreed. There seems to have been no reason at all for such a show of force, based on the facts presented thus far.
GOOD
Next thing you know, the Department of Education will have SWAT teams, too...
Oh, wait, they do!
gfa
We have an EPA facility near where I work. With the concrete baracades, entry guard shacks, and 9 ft. fence topped with concertina it looks like a military facility - a pretty secure one at that.
This government is out of control.
I agree, Jenny.
Guffaw, even the Dept of Education has SWAT teams. Why? No one knows.
Knucklehead, it would be hard to disagree with that conclusion.
Lord I'd love to see an IP log of ADN commenters.
I know we each live in our own little bubbles these days, but the ratio of bootlickers just doesn't match any Alaskan town I've ever known.
Jenny, I'm pretty sure it would be evenly split between Spenard & Seattle. Heh.
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