Were Wash. Homes Burned In Earth's Name?

Eco-Terrorism Eyed As Likely Motive Behind Blaze That Destroyed Luxury Model Homes

(CBS/AP)  Custom home builder Grey Lundberg shook his head at the charred remains of the $2 million dream house his company built with recycled waste wood and other environmentally friendly products.

The project earned a five-star "Built Green" rating, granted by a builder's group for making construction choices that help the environment. That effort was mocked by whomever burned down the house and two others early Monday. They left behind a sign that read, "Built Green? Nope black!"

"It's just so ironic. I can't even begin to fathom that mentality," Lundberg said. "We were trying to demonstrate a better way to build out here."

The homes are in a development near the headwaters of Bear Creek, which is home to endangered chinook salmon. Opponents of the development had questioned whether the luxury homes could pollute the creek and an aquifer that is a drinking water source, and whether enough was done to protect nearby wetlands.

"Ironically, the carbon footprint of whoever did this now seems larger than the problem they were trying to fix," Lundberg told CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

ELF is known for trying to cause economic damage to companies or organizations it considers to be harming the environment. The group has no organized structure or leadership; typically, autonomous cells of activists take "direct actions" such as arsons and claim responsibility on behalf of ELF.

The fire north of Woodinville, a rural suburb northeast of Seattle, was apparently set by the Earth Liberation Front, a loose collection of radical environmentalists that has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the 1990s. The group's initials were on the sign, a sheet with red spray-painted letters.

The sheriff's office estimated that Monday's pre-dawn fires did $7 million in damage to the "Street of Dreams," a row of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where tens of thousands of visitors last summer eyed the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping. Three homes were destroyed and two suffered minor fire or smoke damage.

The FBI was investigating the fires as a potential domestic terrorism act, said FBI spokesman Rich Kolko in Washington, D.C.

Crews removed incendiary devices found in the homes, Snohomish County District 7 Fire Chief Rick Eastman said. Later, however, Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Seattle, said there was no evidence such devices had been used.

No injuries were reported in the fires, which began before dawn in the wooded subdivision and were still smoldering by early afternoon.

The Building Industry Association of Washington and the FBI were offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

"If you just stop and think about the lives that you're touching when you do something like this, it's unbelievable selfishness," Lundberg said.

Many cities have events similar to the Seattle Street of Dreams, which has been held since the 1980s. Advertising for last summer's show focused on the environmentally friendly aspects of the homes, which were smaller than some of the houses featured in years past.

The homes that burned were between 4,200 and 4,750 square feet, and were on sale at seven-figure prices.

"We are stunned by this event, and we thank God that each of the homes were unoccupied and that there were no apparent injuries," Seattle Street of Dreams Inc. President John Heller said in a news release.

The sign left behind said, "McMansions in RCDs r not green," a reference to rural cluster developments.

Since 1990, more than 1,200 criminal acts in the U.S. have been attributed to ELF and its sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front, said FBI spokesman Bill Carter.

Most notorious was a 2003 fire that destroyed an apartment complex near the University of California, San Diego, causing $50 million in damage.

In 2005 and 2006, federal authorities charged more than a dozen people involved in an ELF cell known as "the Family" and centered near Olympia, Wash., and Eugene, Ore. The group was responsible for at least 17 fires around the West from 1996 to 2001 - including the 1998 destruction of a lodge at the Vail ski resort in Colorado, a fire that caused $12 million in damage.

A federal jury in Tacoma was deliberating Monday in the case of another accused ELF activist. Briana Waters could face at least 35 years if convicted of helping to firebomb the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001.

In another case out of Portland, Ore., environmental activist and former fugitive Tre Arrow pleaded not guilty Monday to ecoterrorism charges and was ordered held as a flight risk and public danger.

Investigators were not immediately aware of any evidence linking the fires to either criminal case, Seattle FBI agent Fred Gutt said.

Waters' lawyer, Robert Bloom, asked the judge to declare a mistrial Monday morning, citing the possibility that the fires - and their ensuing publicity - could influence the jury.

"It is inconceivable that anybody who is supporting Briana's case could have been responsible for this," Bloom said.

The judge rejected Bloom's request.

Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif., is accused of serving as a lookout while her friends planted the firebomb, which caused $7 million in damage. The horticulture center was targeted because the ELF activists mistakenly believed researchers there were genetically engineering trees, investigators said.

Tre Arrow is accused of helping to destroy concrete-mixing trucks at Ross Island Sand and Gravel Co. in Portland in April 2001 and of firebombing logging trucks at Schoppert Logging Co. in Eagle Creek near Mount Hood in June 2001.

ELF has timed attacks with criminal cases in the past. A few days before Jeff Luers was to be tried in 2001 on charges he torched three SUVs at a Eugene, Ore., car dealership, ELF activists hit the same dealership again. Luers was convicted.

[hillaryin08]

The least these liberals could do is wait until McCain wins before they start burining the country down.

[king77shaw]

this story is pure propaganda -- what we have here are high end developers trying to "dump" their losses .. there''s no reason the ELF would leave a "sign" at the scene of the crime - the FBI would know if it were the ELF or not, sign or no sign ... doesn''t make sense - pure myth ..

[l8c6]

Investigate them for insurance fraud.

The arrogant indifference of profiteers who consume huge tracks of pristine countryside in an effort to satisfy the created and marketed demands of a warped perverse bought into out of touch misguided desire on the part of some to take on the illusion they will own a part of the earth and will have reached manna by investing often with debt on one of these monstrosities that when gathered together in a cul de sac of sorts look much less like "dream homes" and more like spit wads littering the countryside.

I lost a friend of 20 years this past weekend, a 56 year old to an apparent heart attack after he was sent home with pain killers and a diagnosis of having had a "silent heart attack".

Some investors and insurance corporation administrators can pocket the savings of denying hospitalization and aggressive intervention that saves lives and instead put their private profits toward one of these cold boxes of gluttony but the meaning of life and love will not be found inside.

As a people instead of toiling in search of a "street of dreams" we would be a happier people if we consumed less pain killers, anti-depressants, lived more simply, shared and built communities of dreams instead of huge gaudy boxes of debt on acreage filled with the material fluff of electronic devices and mass produced clutter that alienates and divides humanity. Self indulgence is the dream of a sociopath.

Our economy is built on much ado about nothing.

[easeup-2009]

Posted by l8c6 at 09:10 AM : Mar 04, 2008

Still pasting the same delusional rant, over & over & over????

Get some help.

[Razzl]

I believe that social class resentment was as important, if not more important, than environmentalism in past incidents of this type. Burning down McMansions, even "green" McMansions, would seem like a justified thing to do by people who feel paranoia at living in places where housing costs have left them behind and builders gleefully build speculative palaces as though to mock them. On the other hand, we mustn''t make the assumption that this group had anything to do with the current episode; in this economic environment the builder might hire out an arson to solve his financial problems. I make no accusation about the builder in question, just warn that things are not always what they seem and it''s best to wait for some report by the investigators before believing the apparent evidence at the scene...

[rational_1]

Burning all those houses and releasing all that carbon dioxide into the air (probably brought Al Gore to tears) seems like a pretty un-green thing to do. I think the cops are on to the possibility that the tree huggers might not have done this.

[l8c6]

easeup

You are a checked out souless empty shell.

[johngoodnews]

I don''t understand the mentality that burns down beautiful homes built for people who care about the environment. I think if you scratch the veneer from the smug little faces of the ELF, you will find hateful spiteful little people who can''t afford to live in a home like that, so they just destroy it instead of letting someone who can afford it live there. And by leaving their mocking signs, they somehow attempt to justify actions which are driven only by envy, and not by sensitivity to the environment.

[leftyintexas]

The least these liberals could do is wait until McCain wins before they start burining the country down.
Posted by hillaryin08 at 08:52 AM : Mar 04, 2008

Once again you show your stupidity. Do your mother know you at the computer again? Only 322 days left! Enjoy!

[demslie]

IRAN, Al Qaeda and Democrat terrorists all use the same angry excuse for terrorist actions against others. They are mad, so they are justified in anything they do against the people they hate. And this is the new %u201CChange for America%u201D that Saddam Hussein OBAMA, Hitlery and Democraps have promised us

[demslie]

I make no accusation about the builder in question, just warn that things are not always what they seem and it''''s best to wait for some report by the investigators before believing the apparent evidence at the scene...

Posted by razzl

These Democrats will always want to wait for their friends at CBS (Communist Broadcast System) CNN (Communist News Network) and ABC (Atheist Broadcast System) to have time to spin this story until everyone in America is to blame, not the terrorists. Anyone who would dare work all their lives and be able to buy a big house is an enemy of the STATE. The Goverment must take that money to protect the down troden by taxing those that work to give to those that refuse to work. And this is the new %u201CChange for America%u201D that Saddam Hussein OBAMA, Hitlery and Democraps have promised us.

[kennergirl]

Destroying homes and businesses in the name of "environmentalism" is ridiculous. If they were so worried about protecting the environment they should go where the true culprits are. Those big tall smokestacks of those refineries put more pollution in the air. You know which states contributes the most pollution...you guessed it....TEXAS! No, instead they burn down homes and businesses and put more CO2 in our atmosphere for the sake of the environment! What a bunch of hypocrites! Someone should name every last member of that organization in a lawsuit and sue each one personally for their actions. Boy that would be....SWEET!

[williamfold]

whose got the marshmellows?

[easeup-2009]

Posted by l8c6 at 09:58 AM : Mar 04, 2008

You are a raving lunatic.

[kennergirl]

They are the local terrorists...after buying gas to burn down things they can''t afford to travel too much! THANK GOD!

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by kennergirl
Destroying homes and businesses in the name of "environmentalism" is ridiculous.

----------------------------------

So true. Just remember, ELF people are liberals. This is an example of the "nutty left" at work. Liberals are destorying America in many ways, and this is just one example.

[zykracosmos]

These folks are similar to all fanatics that believe in something so strongly that they have given up on talking and moved on to action. Just like abortion clinic bombers (except they don%u2019t kill anyone). I can imagine a situation where these tactics would be considered justified, such as in the Amazon rainforest, where native Indians watch as multi-national corporations drop napalm on the forest to burn it down, substituting short-lived peppercorn plantations or cattle farms for the most diverse ecosystem in the world. The question becomes "how much more do we want?" No place on earth has escaped the impact of humans (DDT in Antarctica). There is no will to curtail population growth or slow the spread of humans into every last wild place on earth. Groups like ELF don''t solve any of these problems, but like any fanatical group, they try to get your attention. In that respect they have succeeded, haven''t they? And now there is discussion about whether or not multi-million dollar neighborhoods should be built in sensitive ecological zones, polluting the headwaters of a river that serves as drinking water for thousands downstream. Torching SUVs won''t get America off of gas-guzzlers, but $100-a-barrel crude oil prices will. These people are venting their desperation, but there has always been a lunatic fringe on the cutting edge of any push for change. The black marchers of the 60%u2019s in Selma, Alabama, were all regarded as fanatics and trouble-makers until things changed.

[kennergirl]

Wango2007

You are so right. Instead of doing productive things to help the environment like organizing events to help teach others to help clean up the environment they take the low road (out of laziness, maybe) to terrorize other who don''t share their beliefs. Too bad they''re too stupid to know the difference. Or maybe, it''s just a platform for people with socio-pathic tendencies to get together as a group and act out their twisted logic.

[easeup-2009]

Time to quell this libsurgency!!!

Drop the hammer on them!!

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by ZykraCosmos
These people are venting their desperation, but there has always been a lunatic fringe on the cutting edge of any push for change.

--------------------

Yes, just like al qaeda. ELF are not eco-terrorists, just terrorists.

When you accept destruction like this as an acceptable mode for change, you-- and ELF-- deny the very basis of the idea of democracy. Personally, I do not view ELF people as revolutionaries, I see them as mentally ill people. I don''t think any cause is helped if adherents are thought of as sickos.

By the way, the only "desperation" they feel is in their twisted little ELF minds.

[zykracosmos]

Wango2007
Try reading my entire post, instead of extracting a phrase, and you''ll see that I do not accept their mode of change. You, on the otherhand, seem to qualify for your own lunatic fringe.

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by ZykraCosmos
You, on the otherhand, seem to qualify for your own lunatic fringe.

-----------------

Come on, ZykraCosmos, debate, don''t hate.

It''s about ideas, not people.

If you''re so hyper-sensitive, just go away. Your frail psyche is off topic here.

[zykracosmos]

Also, before you decide who is destroying democracy in this country, consider the words of one of our founding fathers:
"No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority." --Thomas Jefferson

[zykracosmos]

Wango,
I am tired of people coming in here and trying to make every last news story a left/right thing, such as your statement: This is an example of the "nutty left" at work. Liberals are destorying America in many ways, and this is just one example."

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by USAyesterday
1. Contractor begins building high-end homes during the real estate peak....

-----------------

You may have a vaild point. Time will tell, as you say. The only force stronger than political idealism is the hope of personal financial gain.

[zykracosmos]

USAyesterday
That thought crossed my mind. You can bet the insurance investigators will be coat-tailing the FBI in investigating this one. West coast housing sales are the worst, and unfortunately builders in Washington don''t have the luxury of a hurricane or earthquake to cash in on their insurance policies.

[jimmyc1955]

razzl - nice theory. I bet you find ELF is populated with the kids of well to do parents. Most extremist are of middle or upper classes - only they have the luxury of worrying about something other than eating and finding shelter.

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by ZykraCosmos
I am tired of people coming in here and trying to make every last news story a left/right thing,

------------

Okay, just so we all understand you.

1. YOUR ideas about news stories are the only ones that count.

2. Ideas YOU are tired of are not valid and should not be expressed.

3. YOU expect to be able to decide what people say and how they say it.

Ya, sure.

[zykracosmos]

Wango,
You just stated three things that have nothing to do with me. You are indeed qualifying yourself as the lunatic fringe.

[displeased]

So true. Just remember, ELF people are liberals. This is an example of the "nutty left" at work. Liberals are destorying America in many ways, and this is just one example.
Posted by Wango2007

These people aren''t libs. They''re senseless radicals that have allowed their cause to drive them to delusions to the point they are counter-productive and actually cause more harm to the environment. I hope they find these idiot terrorists!

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by ZykraCosmos
You just stated three things that have nothing to do with me. You are indeed qualifying yourself as the lunatic fringe.

------------

I quoted your statement exactly. Now you are saying its not true. Pretty lame, ZykraCosmos.

When people express ideas you don''t like you make ad hominem attacks on them, just as you have done twice with me now.

I think I am right on target about you.

Stick to ideas, not calling people names.

[zykracosmos]

Here''s a warning from our forefathers about fanatics trying to institute radical change: "Should [reformers] attempt more than the established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all and *** indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim." --Thomas Jefferson

[zykracosmos]

Wango,
Show me where you quoted me out of any of your three statements.

[zykracosmos]

Also Wango,
You are the one issuing "ad hominem attacks" as you call them with your relentless pursuit of trying to catagorize all Americans as either liberal or otherwise (I''m not sure what you think you are). Americans do not fit neatly into two camps of philosophy, although it is more convenient to try and paint that picture. It just isn''t so. It shows a close-mindedness that skews and biases the opinions of the person who functions by that imaginary division.

[andor3]

USAyesterday said: "... a true environmental activist would not set fire to all those homes as the toxins from the fire(s) would create more damage to the environment than these houses ever would."

good point! looks like this is more likely insurance fraud or someone trying to make ELF look bad. There is not much evidence to link this to ELF... for starters there should be a suspect, and that suspect should have ELF ties, before there is any real suspicion. A hand written sign means nothing

[wango2007-2009]

Posted by USAyesterday
Also, the ELF is yet another example of a political fringe element, extreme in their idealism. And it is very clear that idealism, of any kind, clouds logical thought.

-------------------

Yes, you are right about this I believe.

Most people think of Liberal/Conservative as being at opposite ends of a line. The truth is that political ideology is a circle. At the top of the circle is where Liberial/Conservative moderates meet. At the bottom (opposite) the Liberal ELF types meet with the Conservative survivalist types.

It is nearly impossible to put these sorts of social and political things into perspective unless you consider the the Liberal/Conservative dynamics which are foundational to what motivates political and social action.

[keithepike]

I will follow this investigation of the fire because of the conspiracey theroy.It has happend during a houseing slump and those millons from insurance might be a motive. anybody can make a sigh and spray paint. I bet CBS investigating reporters can find the facts out.

[chad55555]

I admit humans must face the fact that this earth is in danger of all kinds but doing this is wrong.MOTHER NATURE WILL DEFEND THIS EARTH WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT,THE EARTH WILL FIGHT BACK AND DESTORY MOST LIFE AND START ALL OVER AGAIN. IT HAPPENS EVERY FEW THOUSANDS YEARS,IT''S ABOUT THAT TIME AGAIN.

[michellem99-2009]

I hate the fact that rents are so high and that they build homes to throw the poor in to the streets. This burning of buildings is an act of terrorism. We need to build places for the poor.

[ann3332]

This is outrageous these irresponsible perpatrator that commit this should be arrested and put behind bar. this is no reason for this at all

[oldpilot954]

Lay the blame where it belongs -- someone wants to cause destruction. Ecology is just n excuse to destroy things.

[libsrweak]

liberals would go so far as killing you to save you..go figure..

[mountainzen]

People forget--civil disobedience means you''re willing to turn yourself in and be prosecuted. So turn yourself in and show you''re not afraid of what you''ve done.
Do the crime, do the time.