Feds Raid Squaw Valley Offices

Olympic Valley, CA, June 21–Federal agents withthe Criminal Investigation Division of the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) raided Squaw Valley’s administrative offices yesterday and removedseveral files. According to resort personnel, investigators were interestedin searching the records of top management. It is unclear what specificsagents were after because the search warrant remained sealed and SquawValley officials were unreachable this afternoon.

According to local reports, a member of the Lahontan Regional Water QualityControl Board accompanied agents to Squaw Valley, but no one at the controlboard’s offices would confirm those reports. The board has been consideringlevying a fine against the ski area for allegedly destroying a wetland whenexpanding its Gold Coast pond and then taking five years to completerestoration work. Other speculation is that as many as 20 agents collectedfiles relating to the funitel Squaw opened in December of 1998. A searchwarrant was “executed,” according to the EPA’s Jorge Urquijo, who notedthat, as a matter of procedure, close to a dozen officers would have beeninvolved and would only collect files or records that dealt with a specificenvironmental action.