Merlin, Ore. — At a press conferenceMay5th, 2015, the local chapter of the Oath Keepers, a group who pledges to defend the Constitution, says theBureau of Land Managementis not following federal law.
The group is defending the Sugar Pine Mine in Galice as the mine owners and BLMdisagree over the validity of the mining claim.
Through a third party, Oath Keepers say they have received proof theBLM has destroyed other mine sites.
Jim Whittington from the MedfordBLM office says those cases have nothing to do with this one and any action they’ve taken was after a thorough review process.
The Oath Keepers also say the mine owners have filed 14 FOIA’s or Freedom of Information Act requests for official documents regarding their claim in the last several weeks. So far two have been fulfilled.
“We have a big concern about these documents not being transparent, not being given out,” says Mary Emerick, the Oath Keepers PIO.
Whittington says FOIA requests take time and he believes the requests the Oath Keepers are counting are individual items under one FIOA request.
Click here to review the documents the Oath Keepers are referring to.
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