Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is “outraged” by reports of intimidation and needless show of force by Department of Environmental Conservation, the Bureau of Land Management and the state Department of Environmental Conservation who wore body armor to investigate a potential Clean Water Act violation, according to a statement released yesterday.

“A State DEC Environmental investigator joined seven enforcement officers from the EPA and BLM to investigate placer miners in the Fortymile River area near Chicken.

“The agents, armed and wearing body armor, claimed they were looking for violations of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.”

“There are many unanswered questions,” said Parnell in the statement. Yes, there certainly are.