Earth Liberation Front Says It Torched Lab, Tree Farm
Group Opposes Research And Business It Sees As Anti-Environment
FBI Stepping Up Efforts To Infiltrate The Group


SEATTLE, June 1, 2001
(CBS) A radical environmental group Friday claimed responsibility for setting two fires last month that destroyed a university lab and a commercial tree farm.

The fire at the University of Washington's urban horticulture center in Seattle last week destroyed the offices of scientists who did research into the genetic modification of trees to make them larger and more useful to the timber industry.

Not far away and at about the same time, two buildings on the Oregon tree farm were also destroyed by a firebomb. There, scrawled on a wall, police found the signature of the ELF, as well as the message: "You Cannot Control What is Wild."

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) on Friday claimed responsibility for those fires.

A fax from the ELF relayed to The Associated Press stated: "At 3:15 a.m. on Monday, May 21, the research of Toby Bradshaw was reduced to smoke and ashes. We attacked his office at the University of Washington while at the same time another group set fire to a related target in Clatskanie, Oregon, 150 miles away." Bradshaw is a researcher at the university lab.

The fax was relayed by Craig Rosebraugh, a Portland vegan bakery owner who receives communiques from ELF but says he is not affiliated with the group.

The fire at the UW caused as much as $3 million in structural damage, and botanists said they also lost years of research on topics ranging from wetland restoration to endangered species protection. The Oregon fire caused at least $500,000 in damage. No one was injured in either blaze.

Police and fire officials said both fires were the result of arson, noting the presence of sophisticated timing devices.

Another ELF spokesman said last week that the bombings were likely the work of the group and defended the act.

"The risk of genetic pollution getting released into the environment is potentially devastating," said Leslie Pickering, who identified himself as a spokesman for the group. He added that any wildlife conservation data lost in the Seattle fire would be a minor concern.

"Whatever was lost in that particular building is microscopic compared to what could happen if genetic pollution gets released into the natural environment," Pickering said.

ELF members have taken responsibility for an increasing number of blazes set across the country.

CBS News has learned more FBI agents have recently been assigned to investigate and attempt to infiltrate the ELF and similar ecoterrorist organizations.

Recently, the ELF has been linked to an arson campaign in Phoenix, tree spiking in Indiana, an attack on facilities at Michigan State University, several bombings on New York's Long Island, and an attempt last month to burn down a Nike Inc. outlet store in Minnesota to protest use of "sweatshop" labor.

In testimony to Congress this year, FBI director Louis Freeh said that eight terrorist incidents in 1999 were conducted either by ELF or a related group, the Animal Liberation Network, with several other incidents under investigation.

ELF opposes everything from genetic engineering to urban sprawl. Its costliest terrorist act to date was the $12 million fire set at the Vail ski resort in Colorado in 1998, reports CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes.

According to the FBI, the ELF set the fire to block the resort from expanding and destroying the last lynx habitat in Colorado.

"Eventually people may be injured in these fires or be killed," said Stephen Peifer, the assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon. "It's similar to groups that are dedicated to shutting down abortion clinics by violence. It's the same type of technique and the same type of objective"

-from www.cbsnews.com (http://www.cbsnews.com)

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-Will

It ssems to me that actions like this, they distance the public from their cause. In order for their movement to suceed, the public needs to support them, but the public won't support them if they are extreme radicals who act in this way. It's just a way to halt their own cause.

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-Will

Yeah, that kind of crap is silly..
The end justifies the means, to them.
You know, I have read it and heard it several times that we now have more trees in this country than when it was first settled.
Astonishing!
What I cant stand about most environmental groups is that they force you to be an extremist in many ways. Its either environmentalism or disaster and destruction of the planet (according to them). There is absolutely NO middle ground for them.
Never mind the FACT that Drilling in Alaska, a very small speck on the map, can be done and HAS been done in a safe and protective manner to the environment.
I guess thats how they survive though, without the issue, they wouldnt exist.

The other thing that bothers me is the massive amount of dis-information they put out, they dont need to.
Keep in mind, the heads of these groups are the same ones who were telling us that we would have NO breathable air or drinkable water by 1990. Same people, same dis-information
We have made great strides in cleaning things up, and will continue to do so as technology progresses. The govt. should be in a role to give incentive and encourage, companies to clean things up.

Sorry to get on a tangent..

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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

Yeah, scew those ratical people looking out for the good of the world.

What ever happen to the Michigan militia and the Tim McVieghs who stood for real right wing values like "screw you this is mine"???

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Winner of the "peoples Choice award" as supreme advocate for the people!

Well, I don't agree with everything the ELF does. In fact, I don't agree with a lot of it. The things that really piss me off are when they bomb things on college campuses. For the most part, research done on college campuses is for the benefit of the public, funding from corporations is just circumstantial, as the project just happens to coincide with their interests, any relationship is unintentional. I do agree with some of their attacks against corporate targets, however. When it comes down to it, many radical groups, "liberal" or otherwise, don't have the same power as corporations when it comes to swaying the government; just look at the gutting of emmission bills as proof. Oh, and Powerboss, a comment about the no breathable air thing: most of the time, when groups make these sort of comments, they are saying that there will be no breathable air left if emissions remain at their current level or whatever. Now, in this case, it was most likely an erroneous statement. When it comes to stuff like "we will run out of gas in 20 years", however, these claims are actually true. What happens though is that supply and demand kicks in and so drilling which would have been unfeasable in the past due to the depth of the oil or difficulty in drilling becomes a profitable venture. Of course the question still remains as to whether or not fossil fuels are good to begin with...

Oh, and as far as government incentives go, why should corporations be given INCENTIVES to become cleaner when they're causing pollution that harms us all? In my opinion, it's their responsibility to clean up after themselves, not something that we should ask them nicely to do.

-Patrick

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"The difference between an individual terrorist and a government in some cases may be simply that the former has a bomb but doesn't have an air force."
-William Blum

Since when is arson good for the world?

Since when was revolution good for anybody?

There are alot of scientists around the world that think genetic pollution from some of the new genetically engineered plants corporations like Monsanto are creating could destroy the worlds food supply ending life as we know it. Now a little arson fire doesn't sound so extreme in the face of us going extinct does it?

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Red 86 GT

Originally posted by Corporate Avenger:
Since when was revolution good for anybody?

There are alot of scientists around the world that think genetic pollution from some of the new genetically engineered plants corporations like Monsanto are creating could destroy the worlds food supply ending life as we know it. Now a little arson fire doesn't sound so extreme in the face of us going extinct does it?



Ah, Monsanto, I looked at a lot of stuff on Monsanto in my Environmental Politics and Policy class this past semester. In my opinion, they're nothing more than the crack dealer to the world, distributing their exclusive genetically engineered seeds around the world, and not allowing countries to recycle the crops year after year (i.e., they gotta buy new seeds every year, rather than the ones produced by their plants).

-Patrick

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"The difference between an individual terrorist and a government in some cases may be simply that the former has a bomb but doesn't have an air force."
-William Blum

I just saw a great program on The Learning Channel and they were talking bout this old NASA probe full of plutonium that disintegrated in the atmosphere and how everyone on earth has absorbed some and thats why we register as more radioactive on a giger counter today than people in the 60's did.

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"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." -Nietzsche

opps

[This message has been edited by Fordman50 (edited 06-06-2001).]