Arson verdict closes one door, the same week another case of eco-terrorism happens

The final verdict in the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) trial for the arson of the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture is finally in, after six years of investigation and litigation. The jury was tied on three accounts, but 32-year-old Briana Waters was convicted on two counts of arson.

Green extremist websites are suggesting that the recent ELF-attributed fire on the Street of Dreams development were part of a conspiracy to influence the jury in Waters’s court case. Her lawyers tried to have the case thrown out after the news about the fire came out on Monday, and they are appealing.

For police officers and Seattle residents, the Street of Dreams fire brings strong resemblance to the last ELF fire from 2006, but there is yet a ton of forensic evidence to gather.

The 12 ELF-attributed fire bombings are just a fraction of the more than 1,200 criminal incidents since 1990, which include arson, bombings, harassment, vandalism, and animal release. These guys claim they are non-violent and only attacks the property of corporations.

Aside from the fact that hurting people’s property is a form of violence, people have gotten hurt. One of their methods is running long nails into trees at the level where a logger will use his chain saw to cut the tree. The nail breaks the chain, which snaps back in the face of the logger.

We ought to worry about these domestic terrorists, who are attacking our safety and our livelihoods in the name of extremist ideals. They minimize the severity of their actions by saying they are not hurting people, just their property, but that is just as vicious. Destroying people’s livelihoods can cause an immense amount of harm.