Playing Chicken? -- Armed Federal/State Environmental Task Force Invades Placer Claims Near Chicken, Alaska

From the Alaska Dispatch:

Miners from the Chicken area -- a gold mining town of just 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 they were surprised by groups of four to eight armed officers, who swarmed onto their mining claims with little or no warning.

The officers were armed and wearing body armor. They were part of the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force and were there to check for violations of section 404 of the Clean Water Act, according to several miners who were contacted by the group. Section 404 governs water discharges into rivers, streams, lakes and oceans.

The task force’s methods are now being questioned by the miners as well as the Alaska congressional delegation.

One of the questions that ought to be asked of these agencies is if they are intentionally trying to provoke a violent incident involving miners in service to some unacknowledged agenda?

You may read the entire article describing these disturbing events in detail at the link here.