Ecoterrorists Strike Again in Washington

Two Washington State radio transmission towers were destroyed in an attack credited to the ELF. This eco-leftist group has been behind major terrorist incidents up and down the West Coast, and has done millions of dollars in damage to property in the past.

A sign bearing the letters ELF was found near the towers, said Andy Skotdal, general manager of KRKO Radio in Everett, about 25 miles north of Seattle. The group is a loose collection of radical environmentalists that has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the 1990s.

The towers were torn down because of health and environmental concerns, according to an e-mail to The Herald of Everett from the North American ELF Press Office, which has represented the shadowy group in the past.

"We have to weigh our priorities, and the local ecosystem in Everett, along with the local residents, do not need additional sports news radio station towers that come at the expense of reduced property values and harmful radio waves," ELF press office spokesman Jason Crawford said in an e-mail.

The group's Web site featured a picture of one of the towers lying on its site with the caption "Earth Liberation Front Topples Two Radio Station Towers in Snohomish County, WA," followed by the words "Details coming soon."

Reports indicate that the terrorists used bulldozers to knock down the radio towers. The towers belonged to a radio station seeking to increase its transmission capacity. It had been fighting for more than a decade to get those towers built, and opponents threw everything and the kitchen sink to thwart them - trumpeter swan habitat was threatened to potential health hazards to humans.