Idea to remove dam triggers probe by FBI

ST. LOUIS — Jim Bensman thought his suggestion during a public hearing was harmless enough: Instead of building a channel so migratory fish could go around a dam on the Mississippi River, just get rid of the dam.

Instead, the environmental activist found himself in hot water, drawing FBI scrutiny to see whether he had any terrorist intentions.

The case "shows just how easy it is to be labeled a suspected terrorist," he said.

It started July 25 in Alton, Ill., when the Army Corps of Engineers invited public discussion about options for improving fish movement at the nearby Melvin Price Locks and Dam, considered a major impediment to roughly 36 species that migrate upstream.

During the 90-minute hearing whose agenda included whether to build a fish channel, Bensman said, he contended that dams are environmentally destructive and amount to billions of dollars in corporate welfare for boating interests.

He urged that the dam be removed. He said he never mentioned blowing up the dam, though the corps' presentation of possible options included a picture of a dam being dynamited.

The next day, however, a local newspaper reported that Bensman "said he would like to see the dam blown up and resents paying taxes to fix dam problems when it is barge companies that profit from the dam."

Workers at the corps' St. Louis office "took a dim view [of the article] and questioned if it was a potential threat," and a security manager forwarded the clipping to the FBI, said corps spokesman Alan Dooley.

Within days, the FBI had Bensman on the phone, asking whether he was a threat.

"To think I'm a terrorist is utterly ridiculous," Bensman, 46, said from his home in Alton, south of St. Louis. "How could any reasonable person think a terrorist is going to come to a public meeting held by the army corps, let them know who they are and announce their terror plot? It just doesn't make sense to me."

"I don't want to dispute anything with Jim at this point," Dooley said. "We're not going to debate whether this is oversensitivity or undersensitivity."

Dooley noted that when it comes to determining security threats "there's probably a lower threshold after 9/11."

Marshall Stone, a supervisory special agent with the FBI office in Springfield, Ill., acknowledged the corps had asked his agency to review Bensman's remarks. He wouldn't discuss the status of the inquiry.

Bensman is affiliated with the Sierra Club and the forest-protection group Heartwood, and his environmental activism is well known around the Midwest. He has railed against logging and gone to bat for bats, woodpeckers and, lately, migratory fish in the Mississippi.

"They all know me, and I'm a thorn in their side," Bensman said of the Corps of Engineers. "I'm one of their biggest critics, and I'm sure I drive a lot of them crazy. But the First Amendment gives me a right to publicly speak out."

That's not the issue, Dooley said. "The issue was the [newspaper] report and not a matter of judgment about how well you do or don't know Mr. Bensman."