Subject: Underground Environmentalists Claim Credit for Boise Cascade Fire
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OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), "an underground environmental
organization that uses economic sabotage to end the exploitation and
destruction of the natural environment and its inhabitants," has
destroyed the Oregon offices of paper manufacturer Boise Cascade. It
is difficult to know whether to condone or condemn such actions
against the infrastructure that is destroying the world's biosphere.
The Earth's forests, oceans, hydrological, atmospheric and other
ecological systems have been so rendered asunder by industrial over-
exploitation that global sustainability is in question. With such
high stakes, it is not surprising to see desperate attempts to slow or
halt threatened global ecological Armageddon. Yet, the use of illegal
tactics against property may well backfire--perhaps accidentally
injuring people, and potentially alienating more than enlightening. I
pass on this news of a fairly significant escalation of the forest
conservation struggle, for you to ruminate over, as I have been, and
attempt to draw your own conclusions. It is not known definitively
who has done this, or for what reason. Drop into the Forest
Conservation discussion space at http://forests.org/web/ to share your
thoughts. I would close by noting that far more "eco-terrorism" has
been waged on the Earth by industrial over-exploitation of the Earth's
biological systems than by ELF or anyone else.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environmentalists Say Started Boise Cascade Fire
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 30, 1999
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Officials are trying to determine whether a
Christmas Day arson fire that destroyed the Oregon offices of paper
manufacturer Boise Cascade Corp. was the work of radical
environmentalists, an FBI spokesman said on Thursday.
A ``communiqu,'' claiming to be from the Earth Liberation Front (ELF)
said members of the underground group started the fire early on
Christmas morning with four buckets of diesel fuel and a kitchen
timer. The group said Boise Cascade ``ravaged the forests of the
Pacific Northwest.''
The communiqu, came with a news release from the Liberation
Collective, which is in contact with ELF, and which said ELF was
responsible for the fire.
Craig Rosebraugh, a spokesman for the Liberation Collective, said his
group was a Portland-based nonprofit social justice organization that
receives ``anonymous communications'' from ELF. ``I just pass that
information along to the press and public,'' he said.
The release described ELF as ``an underground environmental
organization that uses economic sabotage to end the exploitation and
destruction of the natural environment and its inhabitants.''
An FBI spokesman said Oregon state police were investigating the fire
at Boise Cascade's offices in Monmouth, Oregon, but that the letter
allegedly from ELF made it a federal matter.
``Now that ELF has allegedly taken credit for this fire, it does move
into a potential violation covered by the FBI under the domestic
terrorism statutes, and the FBI will conduct the investigation as
such,'' said Gordon Compton, a spokesman for the FBI's Portland
office.
``We will be investigating those individuals responsible for the
fire,'' Compton said. ``It has been determined that the fire was
started by an accelerant, an arson.''
Boise Cascade spokesman Michael Moser said the company's Monmouth
offices, where 25 employees work, was destroyed by a fire on Dec. 25
and that state and federal authorities were investigating the incident
as an arson. He said he could not comment on the communiqu, or the
press release because he had not seen them.
The ``communiqu,'' sent to news agencies along with the press release
read: ``Boise Cascade has been very naughty. After ravaging the
forests of the Pacific Northwest, Boise Cascade now looks toward the
virgin forests of Chile.
``Early Christmas morning, elves left coal in Boise Cascade's
stocking. Four buckets of diesel and gas with kitchen timer delay
destroyed their regional headquarters in Monmouth, Oregon. Let this be
a lesson to all multinational corporations who don't respect their
ecosystems. The elves are watching.''
The release said ELF was also responsible for a $12 million fire at a
Vail, Colorado ski resort in 1998 and for a $500,000 blaze at U.S.
Forest Industries in Medford, Oregon last December.
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