Eco-terrorists take credit for N.Y. fires

ELF has struck again.\nThe Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group active since 1992, took credit for the arson of three luxury houses during New Year's weekend. The homes were being built on a former peach farm in Long Island, New York. The fires came at the end of a year of damage in Monroe County.\nThe fire caused as much as $80,000 worth of damage to the houses. Police said the blaze was started by three plastic jugs filled with gasoline and with birthday candles attached. Spray-painted on the site were the words, "If you build it, we will burn it," "Burn the rich," "Stop the sprawl" and "ELF," according to The New York Times.\nThe Long Island Builders Institute has offered a $10,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of any guilty parties.\nBeginning with the Jan. 23 arson of a home under construction in the Sterling Woods development on the border of the Lake Monroe watershed, ELF claimed responsibility for five separate acts in Indiana this year.\nAlthough no suspects have been taken into custody, local authorities continue their investigation.\n"We are still actively investigating the incidents that have occurred," said FBI spokesperson Doug Garrison.\nWhile he doesn't discount the possibility that the eco-terrorists have moved on, Garrison said the FBI still suspects local environmental activists.\nSteve Chambers, a detective in the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, said police have turned over any leads to Bloomington and Indianapolis FBI agents. Phone tips are occasionally still received from citizens, Chambers said. \nWhile there are a variety of potential charges, those responsible could face a minimum of five years in jail if convicted in federal court of acts of terrorism.\nELF's bill has totaled more than $37 million in damages throughout the United States. In Indiana the group claimed responsibility for: \n• Jan. 23, arson of a house under construction near the Monroe Watershed\n• Apr. 30, destruction of equipment used in the 46/37 bypass project\n• June 30, tree spiking of designated lumber in state forest \n• Sept 9, set fire to Bloomington GOP headquarters in protest of proposed I-69 highway \n• Oct. 18, vandalism of logging equipment in Martin State Forest \nMembers of ELF are represented only by spray-painted tags at the vandalism sites and communiques from the group's spokesman, Craig Rosenbraugh of Portland, Ore. \n"They want to stop endless devastation of the American landscape by over-development," Rosebraugh said of the Long Island arson, according to The Associated Press. \nRosebraugh communicates for the group but claims he is not a member and does not know who the members are. Although he has never been charged, Rosenbraugh has been arrested by authorities a number of times. Armed with a warrant, Portland police most recently searched his home after the Sterling Woods fire.\nAlthough ELF has caused millions of dollars worth of damage throughout the United States, including the $12 million arson of a Vail, Colo., ski resort, no injuries have been attributed to ELF's actions.\nRosenbraugh has said the group has taken precautions to "protect human life and the environment"