Shadowy ELF saboteurs may be on the rise again

In the past two years, prosecutors have charged more than a dozen members of "The Family" -- a cell of eco-saboteurs whose targets ranged from ski resorts to wild horse corrals to the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.

But Monday's luxury home arsons near Woodinville showcase the difficulties in containing the Earth Liberation Front, a decentralized collection of autonomous activists who inflict economic damage on those they believe harm the planet.

"Basically, what the arrests did was sent people to prison," said Gary Perlstein, professor emeritus in administration of justice at Portland State University. "But it didn't necessarily make a dent in the organization."

The fires, set as a jury deliberates the fate of Briana Waters -- accused of acting as a lookout in the 2001 UW firebombing -- may be sending a message that the movement isn't crippled, he said.

It may simply have taken time for new ELF activists to crop up, Perlstein said. "This is more than an environmental issue to them, this is an issue of faith," he said.

Recent actions attributed to the ELF have been relatively rare, compared with the frenzied pace of claims five years ago.

In 2003 alone, activists torched homes and an apartment complex under construction in San Diego, set fire to a McDonald's near the Space Needle, damaged Hummers in California, and spray-painted New Mexico SUVs with words such as "avarice" and "gluttony."

After early actions that focused largely on timber practices and ski resorts, the ELF broadened its agenda to include anti-sprawl and anti-consumption actions. In Washington, it has been suspected in arsons of luxury homes near Snohomish in 2004, in Sammamish in 2005 and Camano Island in 2006.

But it's early to speculate about what Monday's action might mean, said Gary Ackerman, research director for the National Consortium of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

The fires could be the work of a small cell based here, radicals passing through or someone with a grudge.

"It'll require a little bit more research to say if (there's) a cyclical rise, or if there's a whole new cadre of eco-activists," Ackerman said. "There's very little known about how many people are actually out there."

Asked if the arsons Monday fit the profile of an ELF attack, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dave Gomez said, "It does."

"But you've got to remember that ELF is an organization without organization, without hierarchy, without leadership, with no normal membership requirements," Gomez said.

"If a cell takes action or an individual takes action, it's on an individual basis," said Gomez, who supervises the Puget Sound Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Activists in the ELF and the closely related Animal Liberation Front have gone to extensive lengths to avoid detection by forensic scientists. There were reports in the case of the UW firebombing that the incendiary devices were constructed in "clean rooms" to avoid picking up hair or fibers.

"These guys are smart," Gomez said. "They watch CSI. They've become sophisticated."

The tide turned in the investigation into the ELF/ALF cell known as the "The Family" in 2005 when one member became an informant.

"Once somebody opened the faucet, it broke the case open," Gomez said. "That's what we need here -- a break."

ELF firebombings

The Earth Liberation Front has been linked to a number of major arsons in the West over the past decade, including these:

1. October 1998: Arson destroys lodge and other buildings at Vail, Colo., ski resort.
2. May 2001: Three-alarm fire chars academic offices and labs at University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture. Facility rebuilt at cost of $7 million. Simultaneously, Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, Ore., is firebombed.
3. June 1, 2001: Three logging trucks firebombed near Estacada, Ore., during timber sale protests.
4. January 2002: Fires destroy three homes under construction in Redmond.
5. August 2003: Fires destroy four homes under construction, damage two others, in upscale section of north San Diego.
6. August 2003: Fire destroys five-story condo project near the University of California-San Diego, causing $50 million in damage.
7. August 2003: In West Covina, Calif., fires set at a car dealership, destroying several SUVs. Fire also destroys a warehouse at the dealership.
8. September 2003: Four houses under construction in San Diego are torched.
9. April 2004: Two homes charred and another damaged in fires targeting golf course subdivision east of Snohomish.
10. April 2005: Two homes under construction in Sammamish are firebombed.
11. January 2006: Fire destroys luxury Camano Island house under construction. Loss estimated at $2 million.