A little over two years ago, fire swept through five buildings and four ski lifts in Vail, Colo., causing more than $12 million in damage, upending a small town already reeling from enormous change, and eventually introducing the word ecoterrorism into the mainstream lexicon.
Burning down the lodge.
Photo: earthliberationfront.com.
Indeed, so prominent were the arson fires of 19 Oct. 1998 that the event not only spawned numerous news stories but also elbowed its way to becoming a minor story line on the TV drama “The West Wing.” In one episode, after some staff bantering over the physical characteristics of the animal known as a lynx, the Vail fires are cited as a spectacular show of force by a little-known group (and one that ought now to be taken seriously, it is implied) called the Earth Liberation Front.
In actuality, the ELF has claimed responsibility for more than 20 major crimes, including fires that destroyed three homes on Long Island, N.Y., last month.
Two days after the Vail fires, the ELF released a communique that explained it had set the fires because a proposed expansion proje... Read more
