Tag: crime

Green Crime: Stealing Solar Panels

  • Solar panels were recently stolen off the community rec center in Carbondale, Colorado. The building is one of the greenest building in the state. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Burton)

Solar panels are expensive and
increasingly in demand. And now,
many communities are learning of
their solar array’s value the hard
way – they’re being stolen. Conrad
Wilson tells up about this new type
of “green crime:”

Transcript

Solar panels are expensive and
increasingly in demand. And now,
many communities are learning of
their solar array’s value the hard
way – they’re being stolen. Conrad
Wilson tells up about this new type
of “green crime:”

Solar panels are expensive and they’re increasingly in demand throughout the
world, so it sands to reason solar panels have become an attractive target for
criminals.

Recently, 30 panels were stolen from one of the “greenest” buildings in Colorado.
Ninety solar panels valued at $135,000 were swiped off a waste water treatment
plant outside San Francisco.

Monique Hannis is a spokesperson for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
She says, over the last year, solar theft has become a greater concern.

“It’s really just emerged as an issue we need to be watching, really, in the last
year. And the reason is, as solar becomes more prevalent and people
understand the value of the solar panels, it’s just like any other target for theft.”

Currently the group doesn’t track the crimes, but since more panels are
disappearing Hannis says they’ll likely start.

This type of “green crime” is nothing new in developing countries. Lori Stone is
international program manager for Solar Energy International. It’s a Colorado-
based nonprofit that trains students world-wide for careers in the solar industry.
Stone says in some cases the solar panels are gone just days after they’re
installed.

“If somebody really wants to steal solar panels, it’s pretty hard to keep them from
doing it. You know, there’s some new things that are coming out now with ways
to lock them and stuff, but they’re costly and so a lot of these developing country
systems, solar home systems, are pretty easy to take.”

In Kenya, last September, thieves unsuccessfully tried to swipe solar panels on
the house belonging to President Obama’s 86 year-old step-grandmother.

As the solar industry becomes more established, security is gearing up. It’s
becoming part of installing a solar array.

The Solar Industry’s Hannis says manufactures are making things harder for
thieves by adding tracking numbers as part of a recycling program.

“This same system could be used to at least track the location of panels, the
rightful owner of panels going forward, similar to a VIN number of a car.”

Hannis says consumers should be wary of purchasing panels from online sites
such as eBay or Craigslist because they could be buying stolen panels.

To ward off thefts, some go so far as to post night watchmen. Other larger arrays
are equipped with cameras and fences. But there’re also more affordable
options.

Bryce Campbell is president of Bryce Fastener Company, an Arizona based
business that specializes in a unique type of security bolt that acts like a key. The
bolts cost about two dollars per panel.

“The solar industry is starting to say, ‘Hey, what do we do?’ Ha ha. Are we going
to up security systems up here, cameras? Not really effective in places where
most of these solar arrays are laid out.”

Campbell says solar companies began contacting him about a year and a half
ago. Now he gets orders daily.

For Campbell, it makes sense considering people are parking thousands of
dollars on roof-tops and in fields.

For The Environment Report, I’m Conrad Wilson.

Related Links

Big Ships Dump Oil Into the Ocean

  • Ships dump 88 million gallons of oil into the ocean illegally each year - that's eight times the amount of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (Photo source: Vmenkov at Wikimedia Commons)

Each year, ships intentionally dump millions of gallons of oil into the oceans. Rebecca Williams reports everything from cruise ships to cargo ships to oil tankers have been caught:

Transcript

Each year, ships intentionally dump millions of gallons of oil into the oceans. Rebecca Williams reports everything from cruise ships to cargo ships to oil tankers have been caught:

Ships have all kinds of mechanical parts that use oil.

The ships are supposed to collect the waste oil and separate it out, but it turns out a lot of ships just dump it overboard.

Stacey Mitchell is chief of the environmental crimes section at the Department of Justice. She says some estimates are all this oil adds up to about 88 million gallons a year.

That’s eight times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez. And those are just the ships they catch.

“As we do more and more of these enforcements the crews on board these vessels who are trying to defeat our purposes are getting craftier and are coming up with new ways to commit this crime and new ways to conceal it.”

Mitchell says it takes time and costs money to separate the oil the way you’re supposed to, and so they might think the chance of getting caught might be worth the risk. Though if you are caught, the fines can be in the millions of dollars.

For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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‘Land Bank’ Reinvests in Inner City

  • Heavy cleanup crews from the Genesee County Land Bank use chain saws, wood chippers, tractors and brute force to move piles of debris on the lot of an abandoned house on the north side of Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Chris McCarus)

One community is fighting its problems of abandoned lands and unpaid property taxes. Those problems have led to a decaying inner city and increased suburban sprawl. The new tool the community is using is called a “land bank.” It uses a unique approach to try to fix up properties that otherwise often would be left to deteriorate. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:

Transcript

One community is fighting its problems of abandoned lands and unpaid property taxes.
They’ve led to a decaying inner city and increased suburban sprawl. The new tool the
community is using is called a “land bank.” It uses a unique approach to try to fix up
properties that otherwise often would be left to deteriorate. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:


(sound of work crews operating wood chipper)


Cleanup crews are sending downed branches through a wood chipper on a vacant lot.
They’re also removing tires, used diapers, car seats, sinks, old clothes and dead animal carcasses.
The workers are from the Genesee County Land Bank in Flint, Michigan. They’re trying to
make abandoned property useful again. Dan Kildee is the Genesee County Treasurer and the brains
behind the land bank. He thinks this new approach can recover unpaid property tax money and help
improve the Flint Metro area.


“The community gets to make a judgment on what we think we should do with this land. We get
to take a deep breath.”


Empty lots and rundown homes have been multiplying for a generation. That’s left the city of
Flint in a terrible economic state. But the land bank is beginning to change things.


Until just three years ago, Michigan was like most other states. No one had come up with
a solution. The state would auction off a city’s tax liens. Then conflict between the tax
lien buyer and the property owner could go on for up to seven years. In the meantime,
properties were left to neglect and often vandalized.


Under this new program, the treasurer’s office forecloses on a property and hands it over
to the land bank, which acts as the property manager. The land bank might then demolish
a house; it might throw out the owner and let a tenant buy it; or it might auction it off
to the highest bidder. A private investor can’t just buy a tax lien. He has to buy the
property along with it and take care of it.


The land bank is financed in two main ways: through fees on back taxes and through sales
of the few nicer homes or buildings the land bank acquires that bring in relatively big
profits. Treasurer Dan Kildee says it makes sense to take that revenue to fix up old
properties and sell them to people who deserve them.


“There is no system in the United States that pulls together these tools. Both the
ability to quickly assemble property into single ownership of the county, the tools
to manage it and the financing tools to develop that property.”


The land bank program hopes to change the perception of Flint. As thousands of abandoned
homes, stores and vacant lots become eyesores, people and their money go other places,
usually to build more sprawling suburbs. The perception that people are abandoning the
inner city then speeds up that abandonment. Many people who can afford to leave the city do.
And those who can’t afford to move are left behind.


According to data gathered by the research group Public Sector Consultants, Flint has the
state’s highest unemployment and crime rates and the lowest student test scores.


Art Potter is the land bank’s director. He thinks the downward spiral can be stopped.
When it is, those folks in the central city won’t have to suffer for still living there.


“Even though the City of Flint has lost 70,000 people in the last 30 years, the people who
are still here deserve to have a nice environment to live in. So our immediate goal is to
get control and to clean these properties now.”


Urban planning experts are watching the land bank approach. Michigan State
University’s Rex LaMore says Flint is typical of Midwestern cities whose manufacturing
base has shrunk. Private owners large and small have left unproductive property behind.
As the land bank steps in, LaMore says it’s likely to succeed and become an example that
other municipalities can follow.


“They can begin to maybe envision a city of the 21st century that will be different than
the cities of the 20th century or the 19th century that we see around the United States.
A city that reflects a more livable environment. So its an exciting opportunity. I think
we have the vision; the challenge is can we generate the resources? And the land bank model
does provide some opportunity to do that.”


But the land bank is meeting obstacles. For example, the new mayor of Flint who took over
in July canceled the city’s existing contracts. A conservative businessman, the mayor is
suspicious of the city’s past deals. They included one with the land bank to demolish 57
homes. This has slowed the land bank’s progress. Its officials are disappointed but they’re
still working with the mayor to get the money released.


(sound of kids chatting, then lawn mower starts up)


The weeds grow rampant in a neighborhood with broken up pavement and sometimes
no houses on an entire block. It’s open and in an odd way, peaceful. Like a
century-old farm. It’s as if the land has expelled the people who invaded with their bricks,
steel and concrete.


In the middle of all the vacant lots, Katherine Alymo sees possibilities.


“I’ve bought a number of properties in the auctions from the land bank and also got a side
lot acquisition from them for my house. My driveway wasn’t attached to my house when I
bought it. And it was this huge long process to try to get it from them. But they sold it
to me for a dollar. Finally.”


And since then, she’s hired people to fix the floors, paint walls and mow the lawns.
She’s also finding buyers for her properties who want to invest in the city as she has.
Together, they say they needed some help and the land bank is making that possible.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris McCarus.


(lawn mower fades out)

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Ginseng Thieves Strike the Midwest

  • Wild ginseng is protected in the Great Lakes states, but poachers illegally dig up the herb because of high prices.

Conservation officers are starting to notice a demand for a threatened native plant. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports on how wild ginseng might be smuggled out of the nation:

Transcript

Conservation officers are starting to notice a demand for a threatened native plant. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports on how wild ginseng might be smuggled out of
the nation:


While other states have been hit by ginseng smugglers, this is something new in Michigan,
something they’ve never paid much attention to… until now.


Sergeant Ron Kimmerley and Officer Andy Bauer of the State Department of Natural Resources
are deep into the woods.


They’re scouting around Warren Dunes State Park next to Lake Michigan.


They spot what they’re looking for.


What they’ve found are wild ginseng plants, a threatened species that’s protected under Michigan
law.


What they’re also looking for are homemade flags marking the site and signs of digging.


Officer Bauer says they first noticed the flags last summer.


“There were felt flags stuck into the ground, and the rangers had seen those and thought it was
from an orienteering class. Later, we saw the flags were laid down and there were holes where
things had been harvested.”


Until then, Bauer says ginseng poaching had gone largely unnoticed.


More than 30 arrests were made last year and the scenario was often the same: A group would
act as a family of picnickers while one or two people slipped away to dig up ginseng.


Bauer says it was clear that most knew they were breaking the law.


“Some had plastic bags. Others, it was concealed much like narcotics would be, concealed under
their clothes. One woman, we found in the woman’s purse where the bottom was removed, and
there were at least 20 roots.”


Another similarity in the cases was that all those caught were of Asian descent.


Though separate instances, many of them had similar Chicago street addresses.


One man even came from Korea. He came on a 10-day tourist visa, apparently just to harvest
ginseng.


The officers suspect most of the wild ginseng was being taken back to Chicago to sell there or for
export to Asia.


Paul Hsu raises ginseng legally in Wisconsin. He agrees with the conservation officers that the
ginseng is being smuggled to Chicago or out of the country.


“They could have dug it and consumed there. But I don’t think that’s their intention. They dig it,
take it back to Chicago, sell it. They know the value of it.”


Hsu says ginseng roots have been valued in Asian culture for almost 3,000 years for its medicinal
properties.


“The Chinese believe it’s a cure-all…in the old-time, we don’t have antibiotics. It’s more like a
shot-gun approach. Can relieve stress, give you more stamina. To enhance the function of your
body, immune system…whatever.


Wild ginseng is considered more potent than cultivated ginseng, the kind Hsu grows.


And it’s lucrative. A pound a wild ginseng can fetch upwards of $350.


The fines in most Midwest states are fairly high. The penalties in Michigan range up to $5,000
for a first offense and could include jail time.


The poachers are aware of this and usually carry wads of cash. Officers say they suspect it’s
considered the price of doing business.


They’re taking the risk because ginseng is becoming increasingly scarce in Asia.
Environmentalists say that’s what’s behind the high demand and illegal harvesting of American
wild ginseng.


“It’s where there’s greater concentrations that have not yet been harvested.”


Dave Dempsey is a policy advisor at the Michigan Environmental Council.


“It’s more economical for harvesters to exploit here in Michigan and around the Great Lakes.”


Poaching has been going on in southern states for many years because of legendary stock around
the Appalachians.


More recently, poachers are targeting the Midwest because of rich soil. And ginseng has become
so rare everywhere else.


At Warren Dunes State Park, Sergeant Ron Kimmerley is organizing group patrols to try to catch
poachers.


There’s even plans to place plain-clothes officers as picnickers.


But he admits, it might not be enough.


“We’ve got a lot of poachers here, but what’s happening where we can’t be?”


So far, no one has been caught in Michigan this year. But Sergeant Kimmerley says the ginseng
harvest season is just beginning.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Kaomi Goetz.

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GINSENG THIEVES STRIKE THE MIDWEST (Short Version)

  • Wild ginseng is protected in the Great Lakes states, but poachers illegally dig up the herb because of high prices.

Wild ginseng has been poached in North America for years. American ginseng is considered among Asian herbalists to be among the world’s most potent. But a dwindling supply in the more common hunting areas and a global, increased demand for herbal medicine is putting many states in the region at new risk for poaching. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi Goetz reports from Michigan:

Transcript

Wild ginseng has been poached in North America for years. American ginseng is considered
among Asian herbalists to be among the world’s most potent. But a dwindling supply in the more
common hunting areas and a global, increased demand for herbal medicine is putting many states
in the Great Lakes region at new risk for poaching. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Kaomi
Goetz reports from Michigan:


Wild ginseng is protected by some states as a threatened native species.


No one knows just how much ginseng is growing wild in the Great Lakes region. Yet incidents
last summer have law enforcement officers on the alert.


More than 30 people were caught trying to smuggle ginseng out of a Michigan state park next to
Lake Michigan.


Fines can go into the thousands of dollars with even possible jail time.


Even so, Sergeant Ron Kimmerley of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says his
state is largely defenseless.


“There’s only about 200 officers, maybe a little less than that, in the whole state of Michigan. It’s
just not enough. I mean, some counties don’t even have an officer.”


This year, conservation officers are planning other tactics to catch poachers, such as using plain-
clothes officers. Other states such as Indiana and Illinois have also been targets for ginseng
poaching in recent years.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Kaomi Goetz.

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Industrial Egg Farm Ordered to Close

One of the largest egg farms in the nation is being ordered to shut down. The reason… a decade of complaints, including nine contempt citations for environmental violations. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:

Transcript

One of the largest egg farms in the nation is being ordered to shut down. The reason… a
decade of complaints, including nine contempt citations for environmental violations.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen reports:


The Buckeye Egg Farm churns out more than two and a half billion eggs a year… but
Ohio agricultural officials have ordered the factory farm to close. Neighbors of the farm
continue to complain about swarms of flies and bad smells… and environmentalists
continue to complain about manure being dumped into streams. In the words of Ohio’s
agriculture director….it’s “intolerable.”


Environmental activists such as Jack Shaner are glad about the shutdown order.


“We’re happy the state of Ohio has wised up to the fact that just like violent crime, when
it comes to environmental crime, some repeat violators just can’t be rehabilitated.”


Buckeye Egg warns of job losses injuring the economy…..and it promises an appeal of
the shutdown order. Company officials say a better approach is to sell the farm to new
owners.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Cohen.

African Americans’ Environmental Beliefs

New research has dispelled some myths about African Americans and their concern for environmental issues. The study shows that African Americans are just as concerned about the environment as White Americans, if not more. The Great Lakes’ Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

New research has dispelled some myths about African Americans and
their concern for environmental issues. The study shows that African
Americans are just as concerned about the environment as White
Americans,
if not more. The Great Lakes’ Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports.


University of Michigan researcher Paul Mohai says many people assume
African Americans are less concerned than White Americans about the
environment. That’s because many African Americans have to deal with
urban issues. Issues like crime, poverty, jobs and education. But
Mohai’s study finds that African Americans care more about neighborhood
environmental issues like pollution than White Americans – and just as
much about global issues like endangered species and global warming. He
says the biggest surprise is, it’s not a recent development.


“It’s not that African Americans caught up, they’ve been
concerned about the environment for a long time, we just haven’t looked
at
the data!”


Mohai also finds that African Americans in Congress have better
environmental voting records than their white counterparts. He says the
study shows that African Americans make natural allies for environmental
groups and for voters who want an environmental advocate to represent
them
in Congress. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.

Urban Artists Fight for Graffiti

  • Graffiti artist Juan Carlos Noria imagines his artwork as a gift to the community. Artwork provided courtesy of JCN at them-art.com

Graffiti has been a part of urban life since ancient times. There’s also a long history of trying to get rid of it. In many North American cities, civic leaders are experimenting with new ways to eradicate graffiti. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, urban artists are determined to keep it alive:

Transcript

Graffiti has been a part of urban life since ancient times. There’s also a long history of
trying to get rid of it. In many North American cities, civic leaders are experimenting
with new ways to eradicate graffiti. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen
Kelly reports, urban artists are determined to keep it alive:


About twenty artists, most of them men, spread out on either side of a canvas wall set up
in the middle of a parking lot. They wear baggy jeans, baseball caps and gas masks. The
ground is littered with spray paint cans as they splatter color across the canvas.


(sound up)


The artists build on each other’s ideas. Horizontal purple stripes are transformed into an
exotic bird. Pen and ink drawings peek out beneath layers of orange and brown, slowly
disappearing under the paint. This is Ottawa’s first graffiti fest, organized by
local artist Juan Carlos Noria. He arrives by bicycle, wearing splattered jeans and
carrying two backpacks stuffed with spray paint.


“This is our way of giving back to the city true expression and unfortunately I do agree that some of it
is ugly but it’s like a hammer, you know? It’s a tool for building or destroying.”


Noria is a full-time artist who sells oil paintings and sculptures. But his best known work
might be his graffiti. He creates detailed pen and ink drawings on white paper. Then,
late at night, he glues them to downtown buildings.


His drawings depict the plight of humans in the modern world. One shows a man using
one hand to pour coffee into his mouth, as he pounds a hammer with the other.
Another depicts a person surrounded by bubbles representing thought – about money,
heartbreak, and the passage of time.


For Noria, this sort of unexpected art is comforting in a city that prides itself on
cleanliness.


“My living room isn’t this clean, you know? And a lot of these Ottawa streets are super
clean. In an alley that is vacant, it’s almost like a mark that a human being has been there
and I think that’s important, you know?”


But to many other people, graffiti is a sign of crime, decay and danger. That’s prompted
Ottawa to join other North American cities in introducing a graffiti management policy.
The plan includes a special phone line to report graffiti and tougher fines for those who
are caught.


The city estimates it spends about 250 thousand U.S. dollars cleaning up graffiti on city
property every year.


Paul McCann is head of Ottawa’s surface operations office. He says the biggest problem
is tags – initials or names scrawled in marker.


“I’m not talking about the nice graffiti art that a lot of people appreciate but the problem
is the tagging. Some of it is gang related. It’s not in the right place, it is considered
vandalism if you don’t have permission.”


McCann says there’s been a sharp increase in tagging. And it can make residents, and
tourists, feel unsafe. But he draws a distinction between the taggers and the so-called
serious artists.


While graffiti will never be tolerated in places like the parliament buildings, McCann is
looking for areas where graffiti can flourish, such as skateboard parks. It’s a strategy
that’s been used in other cities, including Toronto and Montreal. And it’s something Juan
Carlos Noria is eager to support.


“Graffiti is a movement of the youth. We must embrace it, say it’s not going to go away
so let’s give them spaces to work in and I think that by offering them these spaces, the
older artists will realize these are gifts, so they will in turn speak to the younger artists and
educate them and that’s what it’s all about.”


For Noria, graffiti offers a public venue to vent his frustration about pollution, capitalism,
and the ubiquity of advertising. Not long after the graffiti fest, one of his works
appeared on the wall of an abandoned theatre. It depicts an angel imagining a beautiful
gift as it sends a spray of paint onto the building.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly in Ottawa.

Cracking Down on the E.L.F.

  • The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for burning this house under construction near Bloomington, Indiana in 1999. Photo courtesy Herald-Times, by Jeremy Hogan.

The Earth Liberation Front is an underground group that attacks institutions it believes harm the environment. During the past five years, its members have caused approximately $40 million in damages. E.L.F’s most notorious acts of destruction include torching a luxury ski resort, destroying the executive offices of a forest-product company, and setting on fire university labs involved in genetically-modified crop research. For some time, environmentalists and others have debated whether this sort of activity was simply a public protest, or acts of terrorism. But since September 11th, that debate has escalated with increased efforts to label those involved in such attacks as terrorists. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Todd Melby has this report:

Transcript

The Earth Liberation Front is an underground group that attacks institutions it
believes harm the environment. During the past five years, its members have caused
approximately $40 million in damages. E.L.F.’s most notorious acts of destruction include torching a luxury ski resort, destroying the executive offices of a forest-product
company, and setting on fire university labs involved in genetically-modified crop research. For some time, environmentalists and others have debated whether this sort of activity was simply a public protest, or acts of terrorism. But since September 11th, that debate has escalated with increased efforts to label those involved in such attacks as terrorists. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Todd Melby has this report:


On a cold, January night in St. Paul, Minnesota, one or more members of the Earth Liberation Front set fire to a construction trailer parked on the University of Minnesota campus. Flames quickly spread to an adjacent building, causing $40,000 in damages.


(Construction site sounds)


But while the Crop Research Building burst into flames, the real target was the university’s proposed Microbial and Genomics building – a $20 million undertaking.


(Construction sounds go silent)


The attack wasn’t a surprise to Peggy Leppick. She’s a state representative, who chairs the Higher Education Committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives.


“A lot of the research that goes on at the university is fairly obscure and people don’t know about it, but when you build a building that is essentially a monument to genomics and genetic engineering, it becomes a bulls-eye.”


That’s why university officials are asking the Legislature for nearly $4 million to beef up security. They’ve also ratcheted up the rhetoric. University of Minnesota president Mark Yudolf has no qualms about using the word “terrorist” to describe E.L.F. members who’ve attacked his campus more than once.


“People who blow up facilities and buildings and who may try to avoid risking human life, but almost inevitably something can go wrong: that is my definition of a terrorist, yes.”


But attaching labels to actions doesn’t come so easily for others. There’s a fine distinction for some between terrorist and protesters.


“The definition of terrorist is a very political definition.”


Katherine Sikkink is a political science professor at the University of Minnesota.


“In this country, we have words for it. It’s called ‘crime.’ We don’t have to jump to the term ‘terrorism.’ When people destroy property it’s called ‘crime.’ We have police forces that are here to deal with crime and I think they should do it.”


Not surprisingly, Leslie James Pickering, a spokesman with the E.L.F. press office in Portland, Oregon, agrees with Sikkink’s characterization.


“If they were terrorists they would be engaging in violent terrorist actions. What they do is sabotage property. They’ve never harmed anybody. They never will harm anybody because it is against their code.”


That code, Pickering says, ensures that human life will be protected. When E.L.F. activists set fire to a building, they say it’s searched before flames engulf the facility.


“They are vandals. They are arsonists. They are engaging in illegal activity, there’s no question about that, but there is a difference between sabotage and terrorism.”


But that distinction may be lost in the rush to deal with terrorism, both foreign and domestic. The government appears on the verge of adding environmental groups such as E.L.F to its “War on Terrorism.”


A top F.B.I. official has called E.L.F. “the most active eco-terrorist” group in the United States. A Congressional Committee recently subpoenaed Leslie James Pickering’s predecessor in the E.L.F press office to testify. When committee members weren’t satisfied with his answers, they threatened him with contempt of Congress.


And now U.S. Congressman Gil Gutknecht, a Minnesota Republican, is calling for the death penalty if politically-motivated arsons or other actions result in a fatality. Gutknecht also wants the federal government to establish an “eco-terrorism” clearinghouse so law enforcement officials can do a better job of tracking environmental activists involved in illegal activity.


These proposals have drawn the ire of Chuck Samuelson, the executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union.


“September 11 has been a boon for people who are interested in making laws more strict, regulating society and limiting freedom.”


Samuelson says Gutknecht’s death penalty proposal won’t stop politically-motivated murders. And he’s also opposed to a federal clearinghouse that tracks E.L.F. members, saying it’s likely to be secret.


“The question that always comes up is about the privacy rights of people, how that information gets put in, who gets to change that information and who gets to use that information. If it’s secret and is not available to the public, so that you as a reporter couldn’t go see it or do an investigative piece on how they’re doing it, it’s got to scare you.”


Although Samuelson is quick to criticize the government’s proposed crackdown on E.L.F., he’s no defender of the group. He scoffs at the E.L.F. code, saying no matter their ‘no-harm-to-human-life’ intent, it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.


Professor Sikkink also questions the group’s tactics. While some protest movements have historically engaged in property damage to score political points, she says it comes with a high price tag.


“So these tactics, you know, of destruction of government property are not unheard of, they’ve been around for a long time, but I do think they really run the risk of alienating the people you want to convince.”


Despite the increased pressure on E.L.F to halt the violence, Leslie James Pickering, the group’s spokesman, says he doesn’t expect its members to change its ways anytime soon. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Todd Melby in Minneapolis.

Utility Cracks Down on Energy Theft

A large, Midwestern power company has stepped up efforts to find customers who tamper with their meters. Nationwide, it’s estimated energy theft costs about six billion dollars annually. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mary Jo Wagner has more: