This is a great illustration of the problems that come along with 'big' government. The locals and the feds can't be a 'team' because they don't share the same goals.
The townspeoples goal: Save the town (duh)
The feds goal - don't do anything aggressive that you'll have to answer for if something goes wrong.
Anyone want to guess who, exactly, he meant by that????
Damned feds...