On June 15, fire raged through a lumber yard in West Jordan, Utah, causing $1.5 million in damage. Nearby, spraypainted in green, was the ominous word "ELF", acronym of the Earth Liberation Front. Rep. George Nethercutt wants America's home-grown terrorists quashed now.

Eco-Terror Bill Aims to Sharpen Teeth of Animal Enterprise Protection Act

A bill with potentially far-reaching consequences for America's animal owners, resource providers and researchers has been introduced by Rep. George Nethercutt, a Washington Republican with a proven track record in the fight against eco-terrorism. (To view the bill, search for bill number HR 4454 in the 108th Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/search.html.)

Introduced on May 20, the Ecoterrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 4454) seeks to amend title 18 of the U.S. Code, "to protect and promote the public safety and interstate commerce by establishing Federal criminal penalties and civil remedies for certain violent, threatening, obstructive, and destructive conduct that is intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with plant or animal enterprises, and for other purposes."

Among the many organizations that have pushed hard for tougher laws against eco-terrorism are livestock producers like Fur Commission USA.

"For several years now, farmers and local law enforcement have done their best to keep eco-terrorists at bay, but we've lacked the tools needed to shut them down," said FCUSA's executive director Teresa Platt. "The Ecoterrorism Prevention Act can change all that by significantly upping the ante for extremists who think they can use threats, harassment, arson and worse with impunity."

See also: Hatch Denounces Apparent Ecoterror Attack in Utah; Calls on ATF and FBI to Commit Necessary Resources to Bring Perpetrators to Justice. Sen. Orrin Hatch press release, June 16, 2004. U.S. Senate to Violent Activists: "Enough!" Center for Consumer Freedom commentary, May 19, 2004. American Legislative Exchange Council: ALEC Offers Legislation to Fight Domestic Terror by Animal and Eco-Extremist Groups. "Let's Call a Terrorist a 'Terrorist'," says ALEC. ALEC press release, Sept. 13, 2003. Plus: "Animal & Ecological Terrorism in America." A report by ALEC, 2003. (PDF format) Resources: FCUSA press kit special feature: Safe Farms Campaign FCUSA chronology of animal extremist / ecoterror crimes FCUSA flyer Animal Rights and Eco-Terrorism: The Price We Pay (PDF format).

Attacks specifically against fur farms have been in marked decline in recent years, said Platt, "but that's largely down to the increased vigilance of the farmers. Meanwhile, prosecutions have been few and far between, and eco-terror attacks in general, against a broad range of targets, have been increasing dramatically with arson as the terrorists' number one tool."

The more significant changes proposed by Nethercutt's bill are as follows:

1. Expanding the definition of an enterprise covered by the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA) to include any "commercial retail, wholesale or distribution enterprise that uses, purchases or offers for sale a product that contains animal [or plant] material." Currently only places with livestock (farms, circuses, zoos, farms, ranchers, research facilites, kennels, etc.) are protected under this statute.

2. Creating penalties under the AEPA, ranging from 5-20 years in prison, for damages or attempted damage by arson or explosives. Currently, the AEPA contains no specific penalties for such acts.

3. Establishing that a violation under the AEPA is a "predicate act" actionable under the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

4. Amending the Hobbes Act (extortion) to include "denying another the right to exercise control over that other's property by threatening to violate" the AEPA. This is perhaps the most important provision in the bill, and is a legislative response to a recent Supreme Court decision that limited the ability of federal authorities to prosecute those who systematically intimidate, threaten and destroy, but do not actually take over an enterprise. Most of the eco-terrorist "extortion" cases being investigated by the FBI were undermined by that Supreme Court decision, and both the FBI and the Justice Department specifically requested this amendment at a hearing on "Animal Rights: Activism vs. Criminality" before the Senate Judiciary Committee, May 18. (Click here for all testimony and statements presented to the May 18 hearing.)

5. Establishing a National Ecoterrorism Clearinghouse for information on eco-terrorist crimes. This will make it easier for us to measure the problem and create a finely-tuned and limited response.

6. Creating a specific crime for harboring or providing material support to eco-terrorists.

7. Creating specific procedures for designating certain organizations domestic terrorists. While the Department of State has this authority for international terrorist groups, currently, no such procedure exists under U.S. law for domestic terrorism.

8. Requiring an annual report from the FBI to Congress on domestic terrorist organizations.

9. Creating specific procedures for suspending tax-exempt status to domestic terrorist organizations.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit Fur Commission USA's Fur on Film at http://www.furcommission.com/video/index.htm

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