FAIRBANKS — While U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan wants to prohibit law enforcement agents of the Environmental Protection Agency from carrying guns — an idea triggered by what he describes as a reckless armed raid on miners in Chicken — an independent $50,000 state investigation commissioned by former Gov. Sean Parnell concluded that the agents were not reckless and did not act inappropriately.
"We found no evidence that federal or state employees broke any laws during the criminal compliance investigation," Anchorage attorney Brent Cole said in a March 2014 report, which Parnell had called for after the governor had blasted the federal mine inspections as unwarranted intimidation.
Cole said the task force members from the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management who inspected mines near Chicken in August 2013 were not confrontational, a conclusion based on documents, statements from more than 50 witnesses and recordings of conversations between the officers and miners.
He said the tape recordings featured polite conversations between investigators and miners. "It does not appear from listening to these recordings that task force members engaged in any overbearing or improper investigation tactics," he said. "Concerns were noted by miners but the conversations that ensued seemed cordial and informative."
Sullivan, who promised during his campaign to "disarm" the EPA, introduced the gun amendment to an unrelated bill that would authorize the building of the proposed Keystone pipeline. "This amendment stems from an incident in 2013 – when the EPA conducted an armed raid, based on allegations of water permit violations, of small gold miners outside Chicken," Sullivan's office said in a statement Thursday.
Under his plan, the 177 EPA agents across the country would become unarmed law enforcement officers within the criminal investigation division of EPA with the power to serve warrants and arrest felony suspects for probable cause. In situations where guns might be needed, they would have to call for help from other federal agencies, Sullivan's office said.
A statement from EPA said the Sullivan plan would mean more risk for the public and the officers. "Their work involves the potential for confrontation, and to remove this basic law enforcement tool from the hands of EPA agents could put the safety of the officers – and the public – at risk," the statement said.
In the Chicken incident, the four BLM law enforcement officers were armed, as were the five EPA officers and a state Department of Environmental Conservation official. Sullivan's amendment deals only with the EPA officers.
In his report for Parnell, Cole disputed the need for a criminal investigation of the mines in the Fortymile area in the eastern Interior. He said a civil process or a compliance check would have sufficed. He also complained about poor communication and said the federal agencies did not cooperate in his investigation. But he didn't find any evidence that agents acted irresponsibly or strong-armed anyone in Chicken.
"There are no restrictions on carrying firearms in the Fortymile area and law enforcement officers have procedures which allow for the possession and use of firearms in their jobs. Finally, we found no evidence that task force members acted improperly," Cole said. He said there was nothing about the way the agents were dressed that was out of the ordinary for law enforcement officials, clearly a response to press reports that hinted of a commando raid. No guns were pulled or pointed.
Sullivan's office released a statement Saturday arguing that the EPA officers were reckless because they were armed. "The problem highlighted in the incident in Chicken is that the EPA's strong-armed tactics are an inappropriate abuse of power. To be clear: The EPA agents were armed and in fact were reckless," his spokesman said.
EPA has been "operating beyond the limits of its congressionally granted scope of authority. It's time to rein them in," Sullivan's spokesman said.
"Over the last several years, the EPA's criminal enforcement arm has engaged in reckless and intrusive practices – including the 2013 raid of placer miners in Chicken," Sullivan said in his statement Thursday. "With the ever-expanding jurisdiction of the EPA under this Administration, this amendment would provide a check on the EPA – which hasn't always had the authority to carry firearms."
Congress conferred full law enforcement powers on the EPA in 1988, during the Reagan administration. The EPA criminal division enforces and investigates a wide variety of environmental laws, as well as "violations often associated with environmental crimes, such as conspiracy, false statements, and interfering with federal investigations," the Congressional Research Service said in a 2014 report.
An eight-page EPA internal memo on the Chicken incident from December 2013 rejected the claims that there was an armed raid by a military-style force or that it was reckless. They went in four-member teams on ATVs on trails and roads to mining sites on federal and state land, checking for evidence of pollution violations, EPA said. The EPA memo was included as an exhibit in Cole's report.
"Following the investigation, there was unfounded criticism by some media and public officials that it was a 'raid' conducted by a 'SWAT team.' Such characterizations of the field investigations are completely inaccurate," the EPA report said.
It said the task force team members made no effort to hide their identities. Each person on the four-member teams had a handgun, while one team had a shotgun carried by an EPA agent and the other had a semi-automatic rifle carried by a BLM officer. "Throughout the operation, the rifle was 'broken down' and carried in a backpack until the final day when it was carried on a sling. Such long guns are commonly used for bear protection in remote portions of Alaska by law enforcement officers and citizens alike," EPA said.
They wore blue jeans as well as 'ballistic vests" on which they were identified as police, rangers or federal agents and introduced themselves to mining claim operators, many of whom were armed, the report said.
"No property was seized, no dwellings were searched, no miner was prevented from operating, no one was detained and there were no hostilities. No weapons were drawn," EPA said.