FBI Increases Reward for Suspected Eco-Terrorists to $50K Each
But the Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn’t think the ELF’s actions were so quaint. On Wednesday the FBI announced it is increasing the reward for information leading to the arrest of four people accused of sabotage attacks in five Western states,”including the largest eco-related arson in history, a $26 million arson at the Vail Ski Resort in Vail, Colorado.” The FBI is now offering up to $50,000 each for information leading to the arrest of Joseph Dibee, Josephine Overaker, Rebecca Rubin, and Justin Solondz, all believed to be living abroad. Investigators charge the group as being responsible for “25 domestic terrorism criminal actions totaling over $48 million in damages.”
The group also is suspected in a 2001 fire at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. A fire that, ironically, wiped out the portion of the lab that does research on endangered species, wetlands restoration, and urban forestry and gardening. The fire may have killed a good portion of one rare species: the showy stickseed. At the time of that particular incident, Dr. Steve Strauss, plant geneticist at Oregon State University, whose own research was vandalized said, “I don’t call them ecoterrorists anymore. They don’t deserve the ‘eco,’ They’re terrorists against science.”
To date, Operation Backfire, the FBI program set up to ferret-out eco-terrorists has resulted in the indictment of 17 individuals for eco-terrorism criminal activities.
“During the last ten years, the federal government has wasted countless resources on its ‘Operation Backfire’ campaign aimed at demonizing those who are protecting the planet,” said Lisa Nesbitt - one of the four new regional press officers with the ELF.
ELF representatives have recently turned the tables on the discourse of eco-terrorism, calling the big three U.S. automakers the real eco-terrorists. One recent release said, “Instead of targeting Hummer and SUV dealerships over the last few years, the ELF should have put General Motors out of business years ago with well-placed incendiary devices in Detroit.”
Image: FBI.gov
