Ecoterrorism Charges Surface – Dubbed a National Security Crime

Eleven defendants were named in a 65-count indictment on charges related to arson and the destruction of an energy facility yesterday, the first significant steps towards federal involvement in disrupting so-called “ecoterrorist” organizations Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). They are accused of conducting acts of domestic terrorism in Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, California, and Colorado over a period of four and a half years.^[1] Ecoterrorism has long been touted by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the leading source of domestic terrorism and among the highest of priorities, but few indictments have surfaced to that end. Indeed, most prosecutions relating to the ecoterrorist threat are brought out of state and local jurisdictions, relative to arson and property destruction, a trend which has some states considering serious escalations in the instruments and criminal codes related to countering ecoterrorism. One Washington-based bipartisan consortium for state policymakers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has crafted several pieces of model legislation which would provide for a database of all who have been convicted of ecoterrorist related activity.^[2] Another ALEC bill, the Environmental Corrupt Organizations-Preventative Legislation and Neutralization (ECO-PLAN) Act, is modeled after the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, providing for criminal prosecution not only for the named acts, but also for the criminal enterprise itself. Yesterday’s indictment may prove to be only the first steps in Main Justice’s nascent efforts to target and disrupt ecoterrorist activities nationwide.


[1] “11 Charged In Ecoterrorism Arsons,” MSNBC Online, January 20, 2006. Found here.
[2] See: “Animal and Ecological Terrorism in America,” American Legislative Exchange Council, September 2003. Found here.