Team 4 Investigates Earth Liberation Front
Group Claims Credit For Irvine, Pa., Lab Fire
UPDATED: 11:39 p.m. EST November 8, 2002
PITTSBURGH -- The Earth Liberation Front is listed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the No. 1 domestic terrorist threat in the United States.
The ELF's trail of terror has led to western Pennsylvania. For the first time, ELF is answering questions about its attack here posed by Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons.
On its Web site, the organization claims credit for dozens of arsons and other acts of vandalism that have caused $30 million in damage. The most recent fire was 90 days ago in a forest north of Pittsburgh.
The following is Team 4's investigative report, which aired Nov. 8 on WTAE-TV Action News at 11 p.m.
A Chevrolet SUV dealership in Oregon. A $1 million home under construction next to a reservoir in Indiana. And, in Seattle, a forestry research laboratory at the University of Washington. All of these arsons were the work of a group based in the Pacific Northwest, called the Earth Liberation Front or ELF. Three months ago, for the first time, ELF struck in western Pennsylvania. Dr. Susan Stout is the lead scientist at the U.S. Forest Service's world-reknowned experiment station in Allegheny National Forest near Warren. In the early morning hours of Aug. 11, 2002, Stout received a phone call that her lab, containing research from as far back as 1928, was on fire. "For me, it was just tremendously sad," she said. "It was a horrible feeling to stand there on a Sunday morning and watch a place where so many of us had done so much, go up in flames." The damage, $700,000 worth, was extensive. A witness saw a young man fitting a composite description driving a small red station wagon into the laboratory parking lot before the fire. In an e-mail to the Warren Times Observer newspaper, ELF claimed credit for the lab fire, calling it "a natural, necessary response to the threats posed to life in the Allegheny Forest by proposed timber sales, oil drilling, and greed driven manipulation of Nature."
Click here to read more about that incident.
"People were shocked," said local author Sam MacDonald. "Even people from around here who are very used to the
rhetoric had to take a step back and say 'whoa, this is something that's not
here.'"
The ELF e-mail included this ominous message: "While innocent life will never
be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no
longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice."
"We look at this as a crime of violence. And right now, as far as my
priorities, this is my top priority investigation right now," said Dan Boeh, the Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh branch of the ATF.
So far, federal agents have been largely unsuccessful in solving ELF
attacks across the nation. Experts said that's because, like Al-Quaida, ELF
members operate in small cells.
"When they pick their target, they do it very carefully, they work within a
very small group, usually five to seven members in a group and then they
carry out a plan," said eco-terrorism expert Steve Kendall.
ELF also threatened to set fire to the research lab again if it is rebuilt.
The reconstruction is now almost complete.
Team 4 asked Stout: "Do you understand how your work could be a threat to someone? Do you ever
look at it that way?"
Stout said: "No, I've tried several times since the fire to think
about that and I can't."
But some can. Even mainstream environmental groups that condemn the ELF
attack accuse Stout of gearing her research to benefit the logging industry.
Black cherry tree farming is what's going on in the Allegheny (Forest)," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Tom Buchele. He represents a half-dozen
groups that are suing the U.S. Forest Service over commercial logging of black cherry trees in Allegheny National Forest. Buchele said the science
going on here is illegal.
"I've heard the statement, 'we have good science,'" he said. "Frankly, I agree with
that: they have good science, but the issue is, good science for what? They
have very good science on how to regenerate and grow the maximum number of
black cherry and they're doing that."
"I say that's not true at all," countered Forest Service Physiologist Dr. Steven Horsely. He said black cherry trees are
thriving here because white-tailed deer won't eat them.
"So we end up with black cherry under high deer density."
Team 4 said there is little doubt that the fire has left Stout and Horsely afraid
for their own safety and the safety of the other scientists here. They
would not answer any of our questions about how much of their research
survived the fire and they wouldn't tell us where they're currently working. They have makeshift offices during the reconstruction, but wouldn't tell us where. In that way, the ecoterrorists have won here. In
another way, they have not.
"I think all of us feel a strengthened resolve to do what we do so that the
public at large can benefit from knowing how forests work," said Horsley.
Team 4 sent an e-mail to ELF's Web site, asking about the arson attack
in Allegheny National Forest, and received the following response.
Team 4 asked why ELF resorts to extreme acts such as
arson, instead of operating within the system.
The answer received was: "The ELF does not engage in more traditional tactics because they have been proven not to work ... with one night's work, a few individuals can accomplish what years of legal battles and millions of dollars most likely did not."
Click here to read the entire response by ELF's press office.
| Discussion |
A Chevrolet SUV dealership in Oregon. A $1 million home under construction next to a reservoir in Indiana. And, in Seattle, a forestry research laboratory at the University of Washington. All of these arsons were the work of a group based in the Pacific Northwest, called the Earth Liberation Front or ELF. Three months ago, for the first time, ELF struck in western Pennsylvania. Dr. Susan Stout is the lead scientist at the U.S. Forest Service's world-reknowned experiment station in Allegheny National Forest near Warren. In the early morning hours of Aug. 11, 2002, Stout received a phone call that her lab, containing research from as far back as 1928, was on fire. "For me, it was just tremendously sad," she said. "It was a horrible feeling to stand there on a Sunday morning and watch a place where so many of us had done so much, go up in flames." The damage, $700,000 worth, was extensive. A witness saw a young man fitting a composite description driving a small red station wagon into the laboratory parking lot before the fire. In an e-mail to the Warren Times Observer newspaper, ELF claimed credit for the lab fire, calling it "a natural, necessary response to the threats posed to life in the Allegheny Forest by proposed timber sales, oil drilling, and greed driven manipulation of Nature."
Click here to read more about that incident.
"People were shocked," said local author Sam MacDonald. "Even people from around here who are very used to the
rhetoric had to take a step back and say 'whoa, this is something that's not
here.'"
The ELF e-mail included this ominous message: "While innocent life will never
be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no
longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice."
"We look at this as a crime of violence. And right now, as far as my
priorities, this is my top priority investigation right now," said Dan Boeh, the Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh branch of the ATF.
So far, federal agents have been largely unsuccessful in solving ELF
attacks across the nation. Experts said that's because, like Al-Quaida, ELF
members operate in small cells.
"When they pick their target, they do it very carefully, they work within a
very small group, usually five to seven members in a group and then they
carry out a plan," said eco-terrorism expert Steve Kendall.
ELF also threatened to set fire to the research lab again if it is rebuilt.
The reconstruction is now almost complete.
Team 4 asked Stout: "Do you understand how your work could be a threat to someone? Do you ever
look at it that way?"
Stout said: "No, I've tried several times since the fire to think
about that and I can't."
But some can. Even mainstream environmental groups that condemn the ELF
attack accuse Stout of gearing her research to benefit the logging industry.
Black cherry tree farming is what's going on in the Allegheny (Forest)," said University of Pittsburgh law professor Tom Buchele. He represents a half-dozen
groups that are suing the U.S. Forest Service over commercial logging of black cherry trees in Allegheny National Forest. Buchele said the science
going on here is illegal.
"I've heard the statement, 'we have good science,'" he said. "Frankly, I agree with
that: they have good science, but the issue is, good science for what? They
have very good science on how to regenerate and grow the maximum number of
black cherry and they're doing that."
"I say that's not true at all," countered Forest Service Physiologist Dr. Steven Horsely. He said black cherry trees are
thriving here because white-tailed deer won't eat them.
"So we end up with black cherry under high deer density."
Team 4 said there is little doubt that the fire has left Stout and Horsely afraid
for their own safety and the safety of the other scientists here. They
would not answer any of our questions about how much of their research
survived the fire and they wouldn't tell us where they're currently working. They have makeshift offices during the reconstruction, but wouldn't tell us where. In that way, the ecoterrorists have won here. In
another way, they have not.
"I think all of us feel a strengthened resolve to do what we do so that the
public at large can benefit from knowing how forests work," said Horsley.
Team 4 sent an e-mail to ELF's Web site, asking about the arson attack
in Allegheny National Forest, and received the following response.
Team 4 asked why ELF resorts to extreme acts such as
arson, instead of operating within the system.
The answer received was: "The ELF does not engage in more traditional tactics because they have been proven not to work ... with one night's work, a few individuals can accomplish what years of legal battles and millions of dollars most likely did not."
Click here to read the entire response by ELF's press office.Copyright 2002 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
