BIA of Washington Partners with FBI to Target Radical Environmental Group

The BIA of Washington has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to offer a $100,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of Earth Liberation Front (ELF) terrorists in Washington State. BIAW and the FBI announced the partnership and reward in a joint press conference held at the FBI headquarters in Seattle this month.

ELF is a radical environmental organization whose members utilize economic sabotage and property destruction as a means to call attention to suburban “sprawl.” In recent years, the radical terrorists of the ELF’s militia have started burning down new homes in subdivisions.

“While ELF used to spike trees and sabotage logging equipment, they’re now firebombing neighborhoods and burning down apartment complexes,” said the BIAW President Lyle Fox. “ELF’s increasingly brazen attacks on urban targets have BIAW and the FBI worried that it is only a matter of time before someone is hurt or killed by ELF terrorists,” said Fox.

While ELF has targeted cities around the country, areas along the West Coast have been particularly hit hard. In Washington State alone, ELF terrorists have embarked upon an arson spree that has caused nearly $8 million dollars in property damages since 1996, with much of the damage occurring in residential developments. California has sustained over $53 million in damage, and Oregon has been hit with more than $3 million in damage. Nationally, ELF has claimed responsibility for acts of sabotage in fourteen states that have caused nearly $100 million in damage.

The FBI has made capturing ELF terrorists in the Pacific Northwest one of their top priorities—currently twelve agents in Seattle are assigned to investigating ELF related activities. The FBI believes offering a substantial financial reward to informants will yield better results than the FBI’s previous efforts of trying to infiltrate the tightly knit and secretive ELF organization. As the FBI explained, some members of ELF are becoming disillusioned with the group’s increasingly violent and aggressive tactics—but they are not motivated to turn on their comrades. Offering a financial incentive to these disenfranchised members could provide the motivation that has thus far been lacking.

BIAW is offering up to $100,000 identification of and information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for criminal acts in Washington State claimed by ELF.

For more information, please contact the BIA of Washington at 800-228-4229.
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