We're Here to Check the Water

And it better not be brown!

Chicken Alaska is a pretty quiet town, just a few dozen miners who host a music festival every summer, and spend the rest of the time panning their tailings looking for gold so they can buy food.

When agents with the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force surged out of the wilderness surrounding the remote community, they wore body armor and jackets emblazoned with POLICE in big, bold letters, rode MRaps, and carried AR15s. The local placer miners stood shocked and intimidated by this display of paramilitary force by eight armed men against what are essentially peaceful small business owners.

EPA officials posted this on the EPA website after Chicken miners complained about their behavior during a 2013 raid of their mines

Some felt the 2013 actions of the agents put the entire town at risk. When your family business involves collecting gold far from the nearest Alaska State Trooper station, unusual behavior can be interpreted as someone trying to stage a robbery. How is a remote placer miner to know the people in the jackets saying POLICE really are police? And, yes, Alaska miners are armed for their own protection because the Alaska State Troopers are several hours away at speed and bears live in the woods.

Still others wonder why the officials didn’t just come knock on the door, like sane people do…like the EPA has always done in the past. The miners would have been glad to let them check the water. It wasn’t necessary to point AR15s at their heads.

Lots of Federal land in Alaska

Alaska's vast Interior sprawls from the Canadian border to the Bering Sea and has been a subject of federal-local distrust for decades. In 2010, National Park Service rangers pointed shotguns at, then tackled, then arrested septuagenarian Jim Wilde, for not stopping his boat in midstream of the Yukon River. Jim Wilde was ordered to prepare to be boarded for a safety inspection, a highly unsafe manuever in the middle of the mighty Yukon. Protecting his passengers from possible death by drowning, Wilde swore at park rangers and then headed for shore and a meeting on solid ground. For this, the NPS jailed Wilde in Fairbanks, more than 100 miles away. An ignorant federal magistrate found him guilty for failure to comply with an idiotic lawful order from idiotic federal agents.

Never start a safety inspection by asking someone to do something unsafe.

With more federally-owned and -managed land than any other U.S. state, the state of Alaska can be a place of deeply-rooted mistrust between locals and the agents who try to enforce federal rules. More than 65% of our land is under some sort of federal control. There’s a multitude of federal parks, preserves and wilderness areas patrolled by agents from more than a dozen U.S. agencies. Many of the people in rural parts of the state, which are either under federal control or border federally-managed areas, experience more contact with federal officers than they do with representatives from the State of Alaska.

What The…?

Miners from the Chicken area -- a gold mining town with 17 full-time residents and dozens of seasonal miners off the Taylor Highway, between Tok and the Canadian border -- said that during the third week of August 2013 they were surprised by eight armed officers, who swarmed onto their mining claims with little or no warning. Heavily armed and wearing body armor, the agents were part of the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force, checking for violations of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

You never heard of Section 404?

Section 404 governs water discharges into rivers, streams, lakes and oceans. It’s apparently so vitally important that the miners weren’t given any notice before the highly-armed agents emerged from the woods.

"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. How would you have felt? You would be wondering, 'My God, what have I done now?'" C.R. “Dick” Hammond, Chicken miner

A Fanciful Tale

For a decade now, the EPA has staunchly refused to publicly explain, even to the Alaska congressional delegation, why it used armed officers as part of what it called a "multi-jurisdictional" investigation of possible Clean Water Act violations. During a 2013 meeting with the congressional delegation and State of Alaska officials, the federal agency said it decided to send in armored and armed forces because the Alaska State Troopers notified them of “rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area?

"The Alaska State Troopers did not advise the EPA that there was dangerous drug activity. We do not have evidence to suggest that is occurring," said Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters.

The Alaska Department of Law said it knew of the task force's investigation but DOL didn’t advise the EPA taskforce about any ongoing criminal activities or dangers in the Fortymile River area. One compliance officer for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation went along with the taskforce to look for potential state violations at the mine sites. He was armed…against bear, which no Chicken miner would have objected to.

Nobody mentioned to him that this was Lolito Island North.

The task force was made up of members of the EPA, the FBI, Coast Guard, Department of Defense, the Alaska Department of Public Safety, and the DEC. The chief investigator, Matt Goers, said at the time he couldn’t discuss the details of the Fortymile River investigation and no actual charges commensurate with this use of force were ever filed.

Compliance exams are standard for Alaska gold miners. Sometimes the federal officers point out a problem and the miner can correct it.

“The massive show of intimidation was uncalled for.” David Likins, Fortymile District gold miner.

Most of the mines in Alaska are small, family-run placer operations. They search for gold by digging up ground and running it through a sluice box, using water to wash away the rocks and leave the valuable gold behind. The water they use comes out muddier than what it was when they pulled it from the river, so it must settle in ponds before it's discharged back into streams or creeks, so that mud and rocks don't pollute fish habitat. The miners eat fish too, so this is standard practice that most of them accept as part of their business.

The taskforce found one possible clean water violation at a mine near Boundary (close to the Canadian border).

So none of the aggression was warranted.

Except

In 2015, the EPA finally responded by talking to the environmental desk Greenwire at Politico. They objected to some Alaska media reports that painted this “probe” as an assault with storm troopers in full-on SWAT gear that was causing Congress to consider stripping the EPA of its firearms.

Politico dutifully produced a more nuanced picture of what happened in Chicken two years prior.

Special Agent Tyler Amon, who led the 2013 raid and had since been promoted to head of the Boston office by 2015, was a two-decade veteran of the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement at the time he led the raid.

"We were investigating criminal violations and used what are both appropriate and very reasonable tools of the trade." Special Agent Tyler Amon

Complaints and concerns about mining near Chicken go back years. According to Amon, the “raid” lasted several days as small teams of agents visited nine miners operating in the Fortymile Mining District, talked to locals, took water samples, and zoomed around the wilderness on their ATVs in the on-the-ground phase of the investigation.

I’m pretty sure the miners could tell the difference between 4-wheelers and side-by-sides and an MRAP. They’re very familiar with ATVs and Alaskans are also used to seeing military vehicles.

Meanwhile, agents also conducted surveillance flights earlier in August 2013, either in a Cessna 206 or a Pilatus PC-12 plane, taking photos of possible illegal discharges. I’m not sure what you can see on the ground from the cruising altitude of a Pilatus. I’ve flown on a couple and I don’t think you can see much.

"Wow! That river downstream looks brown." Amon

Rivers aren’t, according to Amon, supposed to run brown. Mining operations cause turbidity — loading the water with sand, silt or clay. And that was a central concern in the investigation.

Of course, a lot of Alaska rivers are glacially fed — as are the streams that flow into the Yukon — and thus loaded with rock flour. Glacier rivers are brown. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, you’ll menace people who aren’t doing anything wrong.

According to photos and videos provided to Politico’s Greenwire, the law enforcement officers weren’t being menacing at all. Yeah, they wore bullet-proof vests, but their guns were holstered or slung. And look, they were smiling at one another.

What’s the problem? Why are you complaining about our intimidation tactics?

Media Misrepresentation?

At least one of the documents Greenwire used to fawn over the EPA showed how officials were frustrated by some media outlets not fawning all over them. It was unfair. How dare they report the miners’ experience.

Besides, the Alaska Wildlife Troopers were also equipped with vests and firearms when they interacted with the public.

It was all so entirely misleading, Amon complained. We weren’t going to shoot anyone. We just wanted you to believe we might.

I know a couple of the miners who were there that day. They’re not cranks and I trust their account of their side of the raid — and they do characterize it as a raid. They argue that sending armored agents carrying guns, including semi-automatic rifles, marked a change from past encounters between law enforcement and miners.

The agency indicated that at least one of the miners had signed his or her property against intruders.

"No Trespassing without the owners’ express verbal or written authorization. This includes any and all Government Agents. … Use of necessary force may be used, at the sole discretion of the owner(s).”

So call and ask the owners’ permission. You didn’t need to storm the gate.

The EPA continues to cite concerns about human trafficking, which Alaska lawmakers, bureaucrats, and the miners themselves laugh at.

Despite that, the EPA continues to insist upon a history of suspected violations by several local miners. The history was outlined in a January 9, 2014 email from EPA official Mike Fisher to Brent Cole, an Anchorage-based attorney preparing an independent report for then-Alaska Governor Sean Parnell.

Fisher said the agency had heard of mine operators known to have "lots of dirty water problems"; another who was a "notorious individual" with state mine violations who was "spewing dirty water"; and yet another miner who "may be the worst operator, from a dirty water standpoint, in the Fortymile."

Notice that none of these “violators” are identified.

EPA gleaned much of this intelligence from inspection reports, violation notices and other documents produced by BLM, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) and the Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 2010.

During the 2013 probe, one agent noted seeing "seepage" at one mining site. Amon said, of the 10 sites visited, three rose to a level he characterized as "egregious" conduct by miners. Seepage is usually water, not mud or rocks, far as I know.

An Aug. 21, 2013, an EPA investigative activity report described "an unpermitted discharge into U.S. waters and a possible oil spill into a settling pond [that] were documented by criminal investigators."

The report includes a miner’s communication with regulators, in which he or she writes that heavy rains on Aug. 13 and 14 caused settling ponds to release muddy water. The miner reported installing a new pond to solve the problem.

No charges were ever filed. An investigative report concerning the incident conducted for the State of Alaska by Brent Cole describes Chicken as a longtime mining community of small, often one- or two-person mining operations, who must be “rugged individuals who need to be self-reliant due to their isolation.”

Miners reported regulators used to seek them out and explain their reasons for visiting. This time was utterly different. I’ve heard other miners in other parts of Alaska report similar strong-arm tactics in recent years.

"I was in my cabin eating lunch, heard noise so I opened the door to see 7 ATVs zoom by headed up the creek to my mining operation. NO ONE stopped at the cabin to introduce themselves [or] explain intent," Dick Hammond said in an email to Greenwire.

Hammond followed the agents and found seven people, wearing bulletproof vests and "POLICE" jackets, equipped with side arms, walking around his mining operation.

"My first thought was ‘holy shit … what’s going on’. So to answer ‘did I find them intimidating,’ hell yes! Just the mere presence of so many and the ‘POLICE’ statement was way over the top!" Hammond

Other miners had similar reactions to the law enforcement presence. In written testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee, Linda Kile said she was disturbed by the surveillance flights.

"I headed down the hill toward them to see who they were and ask why they had stopped. As I got closer I was stunned to see that they all were wearing bullet proof vests and were carrying various weapons. I looked down the road and saw 3 more armed and vested people with my husband and son. My mind was reeling at this point because I’d never seen anything like that on our mining claims." Linda Kile

Miners were troubled by agents reluctance to identify themselves when asked.

"They were not smiling and passing out lollipops! Again, NO ONE ever showed identification!" Hammond wrote.

Amon questioned the assertions agents didn’t properly identify themselves. Their jackets were emblazoned by "FEDERAL AGENT," "POLICE" or "US RANGER". All the agents were identified, according to Amon. Apparently, he doesn’t expect his agents to provide their name so miners would have someone to report.

Despite the initial tense encounter, interviews with the miners were civil. Hammond said he didn’t confront them.

"My conversations with them were non-confrontational. I answered their questions cordially. They agents seemed reserved and almost expecting confrontation. I questioned the agents why the use of such a force and asked if they had encountered problems, the response was ‘oh no, people couldn’t have been nicer.’" Hammond

Amon agreed. He said agents decided against going into the property with the No Trespassing sign. They talked to the miner, someone I know, as she was entering her property and she granted them permission. Cecily said she wasn’t about to argue with two agents with AR15s slung over their backs.

Greenwire asked Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for the recordings of agent and miner interactions, but the public records request was denied, saying release the records could interfere with law enforcement proceedings.

The State of Alaska report on the incident cleared EPA and the other investigators of any wrongdoing, finding no evidence that any federal or state agency failed to follow regulations, policy, or practice in developing and implementing the Criminal Compliance Investigation.

Of course not. The #1 rule of Gov Club is we never speak ill of our fellow totalitarians.

However, like the miners, Cole described the probe as breaking with precedent, calling it a "significant change" in how the small-scale mines are policed in Alaska.

"While enforcement of the Clean Water Act and associated environmental laws are compelling governmental interests for both state and federal authorities, we found scant evidence to support the need for a criminal investigation in the Fortymile area.

We found the decision to conduct a criminal investigation rather than a civil compliance check introduced an unnecessary element of risk into this regulatory process.

Cole recommended steps to increase scrutiny on state regulators working with federal agencies on such actions. Similarly, after finding the use of "military helicopters" in environmental investigations, Cole called on the state to adopt measures for the use of "military resources" in state criminal probes.

Because if the feds intimidate that well, so should we.

Cole also got to the bottom of the human trafficking claim. Apparently, a never-identified BLM ranger stationed in Fairbanks expressed concerns about individuals "with prison tattoos who were heavily armed." Cole’s report says the BLM ranger said the individuals had criminal histories and might be conducting cross-border illegal activities.

The Alaska State Troopers Intelligence Division looked into the claims and found no corroborating evidence. However, Cole’s report says the fact-check didn’t reach the environmental enforcement officers preparing for Chicken. Cole put this down to poor levels of communication between the governmental parties.

We’re lucky that poor communication didn’t end up in a shootout with miners trying to defend themselves against overzealous federal agents.

So basically EPA agent Amon said the scope of the violations in Chicken warranted his team’s strong-arm tactics because brown water in a glacial river is not acceptable and he just knows the miners were conducting criminal level violations when he wasn’t looking. After all, an entirely anonymous and possibly fiction source claimed there was criminal activity going on. The only reason nobody has been charged is because it’s a massive remote area.

Remember this guy got promoted to the Boston office in part because of what he did in Chicken.

The EPA grows stronger with every year and, largely because they are congressionally-authorized agency and therefore not under presidential control, they simply expand and direct their own mandates and leave Americans flabbergasted, intimidated and sometimes bankrupt in their wake. We’ve been lucky thus far that no Americans have ended up dead.

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Lela Markham is an Alaska-based novelist and commentator who knows more than a couple Alaskan miners and far too many EPA employees.

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This incident inspired the Cow Cop Rebellion in A Threatening Fragility, Book 3 of Transformation Project, my apocalyptic series. I figured if the water cops of the EPA could raid a tiny Alaska mining town carrying AR15s, fictional Emmaus Kansas could fight the USDA over food.