Few people would want to visit Iron Mountain Mine, let alone claim a financial stake in one of the most polluted places on earth.

John Francis Hutchens, on the other hand, talks of taking by force the toxic site nine miles northwest of Redding.

He claims in court papers that he and the property's owner are in a joint venture with plans to mine the waste from sludge treated by Environmental Protection Agency cleanup efforts, and he complains the government is blocking them.

The government says there is no public record or contract giving Hutchens any ownership.

Court documents and an interview with Hutchens show the government has essentially told Hutchens, 54, to get lost. The reaction from Hutchens, who has called himself "Warden of the Gales, Forests, and Stannaries at Iron Mountain Mine," indicates he hasn't taken it very well.

"The court continues to stonewall me and pretend that I don't exist, blowing me off like I'm nobody." Hutchens told The Bee. As for EPA, "These people have done nothing but drum up a godless, heathen worship of fish."

Now, he is under criminal investigation. A special agent with EPA's Office of Inspector General says in an October federal court affidavit "there is probable cause to believe" that, in telephone calls and email messages, Hutchens has violated a federal statute forbidding interstate communication of threats.

That someone upset with a federal court has made what might be construed as threats is hardly unusual. What makes the Hutchens case stand out is the audacious twist he adds to the ugly history of Iron Mountain.

Documents say Hutchens was investigated last year for sending six threatening e-mails to EPA employees and 13 others. He allegedly sent emails stating his right to form a militia and warning "Trespassers May Be Shot!"

And he is alleged to have left a phone message, for example, that said "I'm calling to inform you that my troops are about to march on Iron Mountain. Go ahead and put your jack boot Nazis up there (and) we'll shoot 'em dead."

When interviewed by EPA Agent Victoria Schwarz in March, Hutchens denied planning any violence against government employees or anyone else. Her affidavit reports that he denied possessing any weapons, but acknowledged he might "have made some statements in frustration that may be interpreted as intimidating, but that he never meant any real threat."

The government is asserting otherwise.

According to Schwarz's affidavit, on March 18 Hutchens telephoned Deputy U.S. Marshal Philip "Joe" McKeough in Sacramento and warned, "I'm going to take Iron Mountain Mine by force," using an army and an arsenal if necessary.

The affidavit says he denied telling McKeough he would use force, but added that, if someone used force to stop him from entering the site, he would defend himself.

McKeough first encountered Hutchens last year after Hutchens emailed U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez a poster bearing a photo of the judge declaring he is "Wanted for treason to the constitutions," according to the affidavit. It also appeared on Hutchens' website until McKeough talked to Hutchens, who then removed it. Mendez had earlier thwarted Hutchens' attempt to involve himself in a Sacramento federal lawsuit – now nearly 21 years old – over who must pay for the mine cleanup and how much.

Superfund mess

The Shasta County mine behind Hutchens' protest oozes slime so acidic it can dissolve fabrics and burn skin. It poisoned the Sacramento River and its tributaries for more than a century, slaughtering fish and laying waste to habitat.

Copper mining exposed the mountain's underground deposit of pyrite to oxygen, water and bacteria. The runoff was about 500 times more toxic than any other mine drainage.

The EPA has taken extraordinary measures to clean up the notorious Superfund mess, and the damage has been contained.

Five of six parts of the cleanup that began in 1986 have been completed, said EPA spokeswoman Mary Simms, and will operate in perpetuity, collecting acid from runoff and treating it before it can reach the river.

Hutchens wants to profit from the cleanup. He described himself as "a building and landscape contractor" who lost his Orinda home to foreclosure but still lives in Contra Costa County. However, he would not say exactly where, claiming he is concerned that federal authorities might try to harm him.

In litigation since 1987

The mine has been the subject of litigation in Sacramento federal court since the United States sued owner Theodore W. "Ted" Arman and his company, Iron Mountain Mines Inc., in 1987 to secure access to the property. In 1991, both the federal and state governments sued Arman and his company, plus former owners and operators of the mine, to recover cleanup costs. All the defendants except Arman and his company have long since settled the claims against them.

In July 2010, Mendez ruled that Arman, who acquired the property nine years before all mining was shut down in 1986, is responsible for $26.9 million in federal response costs, plus $30.1 million in interest through fiscal 2009. The judge also ruled Arman owes additional uncalculated interest running from Sept. 30, 2009. Arman appealed.

In March 2008, Hutchens began filing court papers on behalf of himself and Arman and his company. On some of them, he signed Arman's name, claiming to be acting under "power of attorney."

At a status conference, Mendez asked Arman, who will be 90 this month, if he realized Hutchens cannot represent him in court.

"No, I do not," Arman replied.

"Well, you understand he's not a lawyer, correct?" Mendez asked.

"I do know he's not a lawyer, but he should have been one a long time ago," Arman stated.

The judge ordered Hutchens not to file any more papers and struck those he had filed.

Alleged series of threats

The chilly reception eventually led Hutchens to a campaign of threats, according to the Schwarz affidavit.

A search warrant for the contents of his emails was issued Oct. 28 in Sacramento.

"We hereby declare our right to bear arms and organize a militia in defense of the constitutions and our private property rights," Hutchens allegedly wrote in one email. He declared EPA "abolished." In another email he wrote, "You have been warned!" and "Trespassers May Be Shot!"

In yet another, he wrote that the "Warden Of The Forest … is excluded from Iron Mountain by federal obstruction; therefore the Warden Of The Forest, Iron Mountain Mines, Inc. (a)nd T. W. Arman will not be held responsible for injuries or death due to the presence of trespassers at Iron Mountain." That email is signed, "John F. Hutchens Warden of the Gales, Forests, and Stannaries at Iron Mountain Mine."

A supervising state deputy attorney general in Oakland later told investigators that on July 28, four months after the denials, she received a phone call from Hutchens threatening to take the mine by force, to shoot it out with the guards there, and to shoot the attorney if she came to the mine, the affidavit says.

He made similar calls on the same day to a federal environment lawyer for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and an assistant U.S. attorney in Sacramento, according to the affidavit. All three lawyers have been involved in the mine litigation.

Confronted by investigators four days later, Hutchens again denied threatening anyone. He said he made the flurry of calls because EPA canceled a webinar in which he and Arman planned to participate.

Hutchens continues to try to change the focus to his joint venture, which he insists is not an environmental threat.

In court papers he says, "Minerals like copper and zinc are necessary nutrients, not poisons. We don't threaten salmon, we eat salmon when it is served."

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