Amazing! Special Counsel Finds No Jack-Booted Intimidation Of Freedumb By Federal Mining Inspectors
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The special counsel hired by the state to look into mining investigations conducted last year by federal and state authorities in eastern Alaska found no evidence that investigators broke any laws.
In the report, attorney Brent Cole said task force members — including nine federal agents or investigators and one officer with the state Department of Environmental Conservation — acted appropriately while carrying out their investigation. In reviewing on-site conversations with placer miners taped by the state officer, none of the miners appeared to have been intimidated, though some indicated surprise at how the matter was handled, Cole said. The conversations reviewed were "cordial and friendly," he said.
But Cole questioned the need for a criminal investigation rather than a civil or administrative inquiry, calling it "ill-conceived" and saying it introduced "an unnecessary element of risk" into the process. "Little if any" civil enforcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or state Department of Environmental Conservation had occurred in the so-called Fortymile area between Eagle and Tok in years past, he said.
"There was no evidence that civil enforcement measures would not have brought about compliance. Nor was there evidence of 'serious and knowing' violations ongoing in the Fortymile area," the report says. "Under the facts provided to us, we were unable to conclude that a criminal compliance inspection was necessary here."
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http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Report-finds-no-laws-broken-in-mine-investigation-5316021.php