[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 112 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1650-E1651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE ENVIRONMENTAL TERRORISM REDUCTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DARLENE HOOLEY

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 25, 2003

  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, throughout our history, America 
has been a country committed to justice. In the wake of an 1837 mob 
lynching of an abolitionist newspaper editor, our great leader Abraham 
Lincoln urged his fellow Americans to ``let reverence for the laws . . 
. become the political religion of the nation,'' to let legislatures 
and judges chosen by the people, rather than lynch-mobs motivated by 
passion and hatred, decide important issues. In the end, Lincoln's 
philosophy was vindicated. Our nation remains united, and we are 
committed to the rule of law.
  But there is a minority of Americans who refuse to abide by this 
covenant. They believe the rule of law does not apply to them, and in 
the forests and communities of Oregon and the Western United States, 
their actions are a rapidly growing problem.
  Oregon has seen a growing number of incidents of environmental 
terrorism. I have traveled to the site of one of these, a Boise Cascade 
building that was burned down by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) on 
Christmas day a couple of years ago.
  While environmental terrorists claim that they don't want to harm 
people, they need to sit down with the volunteer firefighters who were 
roused from their beds early on Christmas morning to fight the blaze 
they started.
  You see, the way incendiary devices used in arsons work, the 
buildings targeted by environmental terrorists often fall in very 
quickly, and we are extremely lucky that none of the brave women and 
men who fight fires have been seriously hurt or killed in one of these 
blazes.
  In 2001, poplar trees involved in a research project at Oregon State 
University were destroyed by a group expressing concern about 
genetically modified organisms. The ironic thing about this is that the 
trees were involved in research designed to prevent genetically 
modified organisms from spreading into the wild--a goal which the 
saboteurs probably support.
  Unfortunately, neither side in the battle over the environment has a 
monopoly on the use of violence--both environmentalists and those who 
oppose increased protections of our natural resources have resorted to 
illegal tactics to advance their causes.
  Federal land managers have been harassed, intimidated, and threatened 
by those who are opposed to environmental protections. For example, in 
1997 ranchers in New Mexico threatened to kill Forest Service employees 
enforcing protections for endangered species.
  Let me be clear: using violence or intimidation in the name of a 
political cause is wrong. In a democracy, we fight for change at the 
ballot box and in the halls of our legislatures, not with pipe bombs 
and incendiary devices.
  I strongly urge my fellow colleagues to ensure that our local, state, 
and federal law enforcement officials are effectively upholding the 
law. That said, environmental terrorism poses additional challenges for 
the law enforcement community.
  It is a well-know fact that very few environmental terrorists have 
been caught. These groups have no formal organization, and they act in 
small terrorist cells, which are autonomous from one another.
  Because these crimes are investigated with limited resources and 
manpower, local law enforcement officials have little success in 
successfully closing these cases.
  For the second Congress, I am attempting to reverse the current 
situation by sponsoring the Environmental Terrorism Reduction Act. This 
bill would provide federal assistance where it is needed most, at the 
local level.
  This legislation would require the Attorney General to establish a 
national clearinghouse

[[Page E1651]]

for information on incidents of ecoterrorism, with the hope that 
investigators stay ahead of the curve in preventing additional acts of 
terror.
  In addition, it would establish the Environmental Terrorism Reduction 
Program in the Department of Justice. This program would authorize the 
Attorney General to designate any area as a high intensity 
environmental terrorism area. After making such a designation local law 
enforcement agencies could access federal funding to assist them in 
solving and preventing these types of crimes in the future.
  This program is similar to the Department of Justice's High Intensity 
Drug Trafficking Area program (HIDTA), which has been extraordinarily 
useful in Oregon and other states in helping make our communities 
better places to live.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in this goal, and to support the 
Environmental Terrorism Reduction Act.

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