TESTIMONY OF RON ARNOLD
JUNE 9, 1998, TUESDAY

HEARING OF THE CRIME SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: ECO-TERRORISM

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE BILL MCCOLLUM (R-FL)

2237 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC

2:30 PM.

REP. BILL MCCOLLUM (R-FL): The Subcommittee on Crime will come to order. Good afternoon. This hearing of the Subcommittee on Crime is here to consider the growing and extremely disturbing problem of violent acts by radical environmental organizations, or eco-terrorism.

Our great nation was built upon the bedrock of free expression. Those with strongly held views are welcome in the public square. But when such advocates threaten or injure in the name of the cause they hold dear, they cross a very important line.

Civilization cannot tolerate the physical attacks of another person simply because of differing views. Obviously, when protest results in injury or death, the message gets lost. In the case of today's witnesses, the lost message is ostensibly, "Protect the Earth." Yet, as we will hear, eco-terrorism only encourages fear and anger. In the name of protecting Mother Nature, radical environmentalists generate nothing but terror.

There's no question that society has a large responsibility for protecting our planet. We must be concerned about issues such as wholesale deforestation of rain forests and the extinction of some species of plants and animals. Environmental groups have been very successful in heightening our collective awareness of the limits of our natural resources. We know that we must plant new trees in place of the old. And we must set up protective habitats for birds, fish and other animals.

Human beings have an obligation to be good stewards of our environment. Yet the very fact that we are already taking these important strides underscores how inexcusable and unnecessary violence and destructive behavior in the name of this cause really is. Peaceful education and consistent advocacy in defense of plant and animal life has been proven to work. We simply cannot -- and will not -- tolerate domestic terrorism in the name of Mother Nature.

It should be noted that the subcommittee has heard from the northern California faction of Earth First!, claiming that the movement's use of violence has been exaggerated. We have welcomed them to submit testimony for the record. We certainly don't want to unfairly malign any person or group. And I invite any statements for the record which can help clarify what actions the various groups endorse.

However, there is no denying that there have already been many victims of radical environmental attacks. This is not a manufactured problem. Our witnesses today have a unique perspective to bring to bear on this issue. And many have been subjected to personal injury or have had thousands of dollars in property destroyed.

They are here to simply tell their stories so that Congress may become better educated about these violent environmental movements. And I look forward to hearing from them....

REP. HUTCHINSON: We've been joined by Mr. Arnold. The rest of the panel has given their testimony. Your full testimony will be admitted into the record without objection, and you may, and I hear none, you may summarize your testimony. We're glad you're here, sir.

MR. RON ARNOLD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Ron Arnold. I'm testifying as the executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, a non-profit citizen organization based in Bellevue, Washington. The center has approximately 10,000 members nationwide, most of them in rural natural resource industries. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you on behalf of our members for holding this hearing today. It is long overdue. For the past five years, our members have routinely contacted our headquarters to report crimes committed against them of a type we've come to call ecoterrorism, that is a crime committed to save nature. These crimes generally take the form of equipment vandalism, but may include package bombs, blockades using physical force to obstruct workers from going where they have a right to go, and invasions of private or government offices to commit the crime of civil disobedience.

So, you can see, Mr. Chairman, the range of ecoterror crimes spans the most violent felonies of attempted murder to misdemeanor offenses such as criminal trespass. But, they are all crimes. I'm not here to discuss non-criminal actions that do not result in arrests and convictions.

My organization'smembership is nationwide. There is no region in the United States where I have not received complaints from members about being victimized by ecoterrorists. It is a broad and pervasive crime that is seriously under reported because the victims are terrorized and fear reprisals, copycat crimes, or in the case of corporations, loss of customer confidence and resulting drops in share prices. I am the author of a book on the subject of this hearing titled, "Ecoterror". And, in researching that book, I have investigated and reported on organized vandalism called by environmentalists, monkey wrenching, which means sabotage against goods producers, and their equipment, in order to save nature. Now, ecoterrorism has been studied by social scientists with illuminating results. In particular, the tactics of the group known as Earth First have been described in the Academy of Management Journal in a study titled, "Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy Through Illegitimate Actions". I request that pages 699, and 715 through 717 of this study be made part of the record, which I have provided for the purpose.

REP. HUTCHINSON: Without objection, so ordered.

MR. ARNOLD: Thank you. Now, I have interviewed the lead author of this study to verify its contents. Kimberly Elsbach told me that the data she used were gathered directly from Earth Firsters who allowed her to witness or report criminal acts on condition that she destroy her notes as soon as her scholarship no longer required them, and those notes have been destroyed according to her. One of the most pertinent tactics that she discovered was called decoupling, which has law enforcement implications. It's a set of techniques denying the crime while deploring the conditions that caused the perpetrators to become so frustrated they had to commit the crime. Thus, decoupling throws blame onto the victim while it denies guilt. However, law enforcement officers have concluded that, in fact, Earth Firsters were the perpetrators, a conclusion drawn as a result of several arrests and convictions in which the defendant admitted connection to Earth First!

As Earth First!, in recent years, has tried to mainstream itself, eco-terror crimes have become more destructive to their wishes for a good public image. Therefore, the late Judy Bari, an Earth First! leader recently deceased, wrote an article in the Earth First! Journal recommending that a decoupling group call itself Earth Liberation Front in order to create deniability for Earth Firster crimes. I document this in my book, "Eco-Terror" on page 270. And I request that be entered into the record of the hearing for which I have provided a copy.

REP. MCCOLLUM: Without objection.

MR. ARNOLD: In fact, the Earth Liberation Front has subsequently become a well-known entity to law enforcement. Furthermore, Mr. Chairman, the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front signed a joint communiqué stating their solidarity and their blending. I've been able to determine that certain criminal Earth Firsters, Earth Liberation Front members and Animal Liberation Front members are, in fact, the same people.... I'm stating that there is no difference between eco-terrorism and animal rights terrorism. And there evidently has been some dispute about that difference. The perpetrators are, in large part, the same people. And the solidarity of action between them is openly declared.