Earth Liberation Front Topples Radio Towers

A group cited by U.S. officials as a domestic terrorism threat claimed responsibility Friday for knocking down two radio station towers in Snohomish County, Washington. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) issued a statement saying opponents of the towers argue that "AM radio waves cause adverse health effects including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the signals have been interfering with home phone and intercom lines."

"When all legal channels of opposition have been exhausted, concerned citizens have to take action into their own hands to protect life and the planet," Jason Crawford, a spokesman for the group, said in a news release. Members of ELF have been sentenced for acts of domestic terrorism in the past.

Though no one is known to have been killed in ELF attacks, the government defines domestic terrorism as use or threatened use of violence by a domestic group "against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives," the FBI's then-domestic terrorism chief, James F. Jarboe, explained in congressional testimony in 2002.

The towers belong to radio station KRKO. "There's quite a bit of destruction to the antenna system and it will probably take at least three months to get it back up and operational again," station manager Andy Skotdal told CNN affiliate KIRO, adding that much of it was "flattened like a pancake."

• "Activists topple towers, claim dangers of AM radio waves", CNN, 9/4/09.
• "Earth Liberation front", New York Times, Topics Page.
• "The Threat of Eco-Terrorism", FBI, Congressional Testimony, 2/12/02.