http://www.factnet.org/cults/earth_liberation_front/vail_fire.html Earth Liberation Front sets off incendiary at Vail Colorado Fires blazed out of control at 4:00 a.m. atop Vail Mountain ski resort in Colorado last week. Three buildings and portions of four chair lifts were destroyed and damages are estimated at $12 million. In a letter sent to news-media outlets, the Earth Liberation Front, an environmental group, claimed responsibility for the arson "...to stop the destruction of natural habitat and the exploitation of the environment." It stated the Vail expansion plans would "...ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas." Days ago, investigators officially blamed the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) arsonists for the blazes. Accelerants were discovered on the mountain by chemists and officers using specially trained dogs. "We've eliminated any and all accidental causes. We are classifying it as incendiary," said regional director for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Tommy Wittman. The Vail ski resort president, Andy Daly said that except for the loss of the Two Elks restaurant, a favorite stop for skiers returning from the Siberia and China Bowls, "No one will be able to tell the difference." Despite the fires, the resort still plans to open in two weeks. But in the ELF communique released last week, skiers were warned to stay away from the mountain "...for your safety and convenience...until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion.'' Resort officials spoke before a packed news briefing last week, reassuring skiers that vacations would be "extraordinary'' despite the threat. "Obviously that's of concern to us, and we will take whatever actions are necessary to make sure our guests have a wonderful time,'' Vail Resorts chairman Adam Aron commented. "Vacationers should ski without fear of terrorism - even during the high-profile World Alpine Ski Championships set for the end of January," said Eagle County Sheriff A.J. Johnson. "Obviously we'll be beefing up security. We'll try as best we can to prepare for anything.'' Despite these reassurances, the potential threat of personal physical danger also looms with that of bad publicity, particularly for locals. Bob Isom, co-owner of Bart & Yetis, a popular pub-restaurant, who skis on the mountain more than 100 days a year, admitted the sabotage threat "...would be in the back of my mind. But you can't stop doing things because someone is threatening you.You can't roll over and die." Others capitulated. "Every one of us has a sort of sick feeling in our stomach," said Ski Magazine Editor Andy Bigford, but the pervading hope and opinions are that Vail has the size and experience to bounce back. Meanwhile, mainstream environmental groups, including members of Earth First!, condemned ELF's actions against the Vail resort. According to Tom Lalley, a spokesman for Earth First!, ELF formed seven years ago during a meeting in Brighton, England, when members advocating destruction of property split off from Earth First! to take action against corporations and companies they felt were hurting the environment. As for Earth First!, founded in 1979, Lalley offered, "It's not really even a group, but more like individuals who, as the group's Web site states: 'are at odds with what they call the lethargic, compromising and increasingly corporate environmental community.' " Mike Lewinski, an Earth First! member in Boulder, stated, "We have been actively opposing Vail Resorts' expansion for over a year now with honesty and integrity. The Earth Liberation Front, if it is responsible for the fires atop Vail mountain, is destroying all we have worked for. I would rather see Vail Resorts, through all their duplicity and greed, destroy the Two Elk Roadless Area, than have some cowardly actions and threats erode the growing opposition to Vail's rapacious plans and the increasing support for protection of Colorado's forests and its wildlife.'' Theresa Kintz, an editor at the Earth First! Journal, also commented they do not advocate "senseless vandalism,'' adding that, "...it doesn't sound like it was something sensible that happened up in Vail. What bothers me is that I don't think it was a good target. Those folks have insurance and they're just going to rebuild, and they'll probably make it even bigger.'' When asked to interpret the significance of the Vail fires, Ron Arnold, author of "Ecoterror: The Violent Agenda to Save Nature,'' commented from his Bellevue, Washington office, "What it looks like to us is things are again escalating. There was a wave of about 600 crimes a year in 1991-92, and things tapered off for a while...their professionalism as criminals is getting a lot better. This Vail fire is a $12 million arson, which just about doubles the damages of any other attack. Typically, the perpetrators are frustrated social activists or environmental zealots...such people feel a sense of futility with mainstream environmental efforts to stem the march of development." Arnold recalled that in 1988, Earth First! used explosives to damage ski lifts at the Arizona Snowbowl resort. In March 1997, the Animal Liberation Front borrowed from their example by applying pipe bombs to blow up five feed trucks in an attack on a fur breeders cooperative in Sandy, Utah. The offices and computer system were also destroyed, causing damages totaling $1 million. In Arnold's estimation, attacks by radical environmentalists has increased steadily over the last two decades. The first well-known group, the Ecoraiders, caused more than $2 million in damages in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona, destroying billboards and houses to stop developers. Since December, ELF has claimed partial responsibility for other arson. One involved the U.S. Agriculture Department buildings in Olympia, Washington. Another destroyed an Oregon corral used for wild horses and burros captured by the Bureau of Land Management, and yet another was responsible for successfully freeing 310 animals from a Wisconsin fur farm. Craig Rosebraugh, an environmental activist in Portland, Oregon, the individual responsible for sending the communique to Vail for ELF, commented of ELF activities, "As long as it doesn't harm human lives, we approve. I think it was a statement to corporations who continue to exploit and destroy the Earth. And I think it did just that." Animal Liberation Front spokeswoman Katie Fedor confirmed that her group had in the past allied itself with ELF to take strong action against companies that "desecrate Earth." Fedor, while refusing to identify arsonists in the Vail attack, remarked, "They assured that no one, human or animal, would be injured, and they were successful. People should take comfort in the fact that this was a professional action." She added that activists who carry out such attacks have no formal training and obtain most of their information on bomb construction from books or the Internet. Sources: Chuck Green, Mark Eddy and Steve Lipsher, Denver Post Writers, Oct. 23 Robert Weller, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct. 22 Steven K. Paulson, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct.