Eco-Terrorism Specifically Examining the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front
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S. HRG. 109–947 ECO-TERRORISM SPECIFICALLY EXAMINING THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT AND THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 18, 2005 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress.senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 32–209 PDF WASHINGTON : 2007 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri MAX BAUCUS, Montana GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island BARBARA BOXER, California LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN THUNE, South Dakota HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York JIM DEMINT, South Carolina FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia BARACK OBAMA, Illinois DAVID VITTER, Louisiana ANDREW WHEELER, Majority Staff Director KEN CONNOLLY, Minority Staff Director (II) CONTENTS Page MAY 18, 2005 OPENING STATEMENTS Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 1 Jeffords, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 3 Lautenberg, Hon. Frank, U.S. Senator from the State of New Jersey ............... 5 Obama, Hon. Barack, U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 37 Vitter, Hon. David R., U.S. Senator from the State of Louisiana ....................... 8 WITNESSES Campbell, Bradley, commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection .............................................................................................................. 23 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 113 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Jeffords ......................................................................................... 117 Senator Lautenberg ................................................................................... 118 Carroll, Carson, Deputy Assistant Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- arms and Explosives ............................................................................................ 13 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 43 Responses to additional questions from Senator Obama .............................. 46 Lewis, John, Deputy Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation ........ 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Jeffords ......................................................................................... 40 Senator Lautenberg ................................................................................... 40 Senator Obama .......................................................................................... 41 Martosko, David, director of research, The Center for Consumer Freedom ....... 21 Exhibits............................................................................................................ 51–109 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Lautenberg ................................................................................... 112 Senator Vitter ............................................................................................ 110 McIntyre, Monty, Esq., Garden Communities ....................................................... 27 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 121 Skorton, David, president, University of Iowa ...................................................... 25 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 119 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Charts: ALF Boast of Raid on University of Iowa Laboratory Including Con- tinuing Threat to Related Professors .......................................................... 127 ALF Instructional Guide to Fire Bombs and Arson, Arson-Around with Auntie Alf ...................................................................................................... 124 ALF Raid on University of Iowa Laboratory November 14, 2004..................... 125 Largest ELF Attack in History Garden Communities, San Diego, CA, August 2003 ................................................................................................... 128 PETA Supports Terrorist Activity ................................................................... 130 PETA Tax Return Claiming Grant to Terrorist Organization ..................... 129 Dr. Best Supports Terrorist Activity as Their Liaison to the Public ........... 131 Contributors Blocked from Financing ALF Through the Internet ............... 132 (III) IV Page —Continued ELF Earned Commissions From Book Sales Through ELF Web site .......... 133 Dr. Steven Best with 2 ALM Members, All 3 Speakers at Fresno State Conference on ‘‘Revoluntionary Environmentalism’’ February 13–14, 2003 ................................................................................................................ 134 PETA Gives Over $70,000 to ALF Member After Burning Down Michigan State Research Lab ....................................................................................... 135 ELF Attacks on Development and Car Dealership ....................................... 136 ELF Web site References EPW Committee Inquiry ...................................... 137 Letters: American Rivers, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, League of Conserva- tion Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, The Wil- derness Society, Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, May 17, 2005 .................................................................... 138 Pacelle, Wayne, president and CEO, The Humane Society of the United States, May 19, 2005 .................................................................................... 141 Report, Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member, House Com- mittee on Homeland Security, April 19, 2005 ................................................ 145–149 Statements: Kerr, Jeffrey S., general counsel and director of Corporate Affairs, The PETA Foundation ......................................................................................... 138 Kursban, Mindy, Esq., general counsel and executive director, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine .......................................................... 149 ECO-TERRORISM SPECIFICALLY EXAMINING THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT AND THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2005 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:32 a.m. in room 406, Senate Dirksen Building, the Hon. James Inhofe (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Inhofe, Warner, Vitter, Jeffords, and Lauten- berg. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA Senator INHOFE. Today, the Committee on Environment and Public Works will highlight the findings of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the issue of eco-terrorism. The Patriot Act de- fines terrorism as ‘‘the unlawful use of force and violence against people or property to intimidate or coerce Government or civilian population in furtherance of a political or social objective.’’ The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Se- curity agree that eco-terrorism is a severe problem, naming the se- rious domestic terrorist threat in the United States today as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) which, by all accounts, is a converging movement with simi- lar ideologies in common personnel. ELF and ALF are terrorists by definition, using intimidation, threats, acts of violence, and property destruction to force their opinions of proper environmental and animal rights policy upon so- ciety. ELF and ALF resort to arson, sabotage, and harassment in hopes of using fear to attain their goals of hampering development and free commerce. In fact, ELF and ALF are responsible for esti- mating conservatively, over $110 million in damages and 1,100 acts of terrorism in the last decade. ELF and ALF’s weapon of choice is arson, placing instructions on how to effectively set fire to ani- mal abusers on their Web site, which is chart No. 1, Arson-Around with Auntie ALF. This is a book on how to make incendiary devices and firebombs. [The referenced document follows on page 124.] Today, we will hear from Federal law enforcement agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, To- (1) 2 bacco, Firearms, and Explosives, who will discuss the problem of ELF and ALF and law enforcement’s reaction to their dangerous and destructive tactics. It is these tactics, particularly the wide- spread use of arson,