pave the earth

[Blank Frank]

Militant environmental group targets FBI, others

By SAM STANTON
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
March 13, 2001

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Two weeks after claiming responsibility for its
first arson attack in California, the Earth
Liberation Front has issued a nationwide call for "militant direct
action" against FBI offices and other federal
buildings.

The militant environmental group, which the FBI has called the nation's
most dangerous domestic terror
organization, on Tuesday issued a statement asking its followers to
engage in actions against the federal
government on April 5.

That date coincides with the scheduled pretrial hearing of Frank
Ambrose, who has been charged in
Bloomington, Ind., with tree-spiking and is suspected to be an ELF
member.

Ambrose has denied the charges and his case has become a rallying point
for environmental activists who
believe he is being unfairly targeted by FBI agents anxious to win a
court victory against an alleged ELF
follower.

Sacramento FBI spokesman Nick Rossi said his agency had little to say
about the ELF announcement or FBI
security efforts.

"We evaluate each threat on a case by case basis," Rossi said.

The announcement calls for protests at a time of year when federal
agencies typically are at a heightened state
of alert because of the April 19 anniversaries of the Oklahoma City
federal building bombing and the raid on the
Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The call for action on April 5 came through e-mail messages sent to
individuals who have asked to be updated
on ELF activities. The messages are forwarded by a group of activists
based in Portland, Ore., who deny any
membership in the group.

One of the activists, Lesliejames Pickering, said Tuesday that he
believed the latest announcement indicated
there would be demonstrations of "support for radical action."

"Militant means more organized, more strategic," Pickering said. "There
are going to be protests nationwide."

He added that he expected protest sites to include either Sacramento or
San Francisco.

The shadowy organization, which has no official members, says it is a
worldwide group that includes anyone
who takes action to protect the environment without injuring or killing
anyone.

The group claims to have caused at least $37 million in damages to
various timber operations, ski resorts and
other entities ELF members believe have hurt the environment.

In one of its latest efforts, the ELF claims to have set a Feb. 20
pre-dawn fire at a cotton gin near Visalia that
caused $700,000 in damage. The group claimed it targeted the plant
because it contained genetically
engineered cotton seeds.

But officials said there were no such seeds at the gin, and a fire
investigator said Tuesday that officials have not
been able to corroborate the group's claims of setting the blaze.

The ELF claimed to have placed barrels containing a total of 20 gallons
of gasoline and other fuel around the
inside of the plant.

Capt. Mike Davidson of the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection said a dog trained to detect
accelerants at arsons was sent inside the cotton gin and found no scent
of the fuel.

"I personally believe that if there were 20 gallons of accelerant inside
the dog would have smelled it and the
firefighters would have smelled it (when they arrived on the scene),"
Davidson said. "I can't eliminate the
possibility that the Earth Liberation Front set the fire; I can say that
they didn't do the fire the way they said they
did."

However, FBI officials have said the group's previous claims of
responsibility for such actions generally have
been accurate. And officials are concerned that the fire in Visalia and
the recent announcements indicate ELF
followers are planning to increase the number and frequency of such
attacks.