Eco-Terrorist in UW arson sentenced

Another UW arsonist sentenced to federal prison

Seattle PI August 19, 2008 Paul Shukovsky

A Spokane woman was sentenced Tuesday to three years in federal prison in the May 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture.

Lacey Phillabaum, 33, of Spokane, is one of five people -- members of a domestic terrorist group called the Earth Liberation Front -- who were accused by federal prosecutors of the arson attack that destroyed the building along with precious samples of rare and endangered plants species being cultivated for reintroduction into the Cascades. The ELF cell, dubbed "The Family," acted on the erroneous belief that a scientist at the center was doing the kind of genetic engineering work that they reviled as being dangerous to the environment.

Phillabaum cried in court, but composed herself to apologize to her victims. "When I think about the damage I did to you my heart is heavy," she said. "I acted as a bully and a tyrant, and I am ashamed that I tried to strong-arm social change."

Phillabaum pleaded guilty in October 2006 in an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle that called for a 36-month sentence.

Her sentence is the second lowest of a dozen members of The Family sentenced in the last two years for either the UW arson, other arson attacks, or both. It reflects the government's acknowledgment that, unlike several other members of The Family, she was involved in only one arson and that she has done everything that she can to atone for her crime, including testifying against other ELF members, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Friedman told the court.

Her role in the arson involved helping to haul the firebomb to the Urban Horticulture Center, located near the University Village mall. She also helped draft a statement of responsibility released after the attack which said such genetic engineering would unleash mutant genes into the environment that is certain to cause irreversible harm to forest ecosystems. "I know there are people out there who are being pulled into the same radical subculture that glamorized arson for me," Phillabaum told the court Tuesday. "Radical activists who are cheering you on from the sidelines cannot know how it feels to have tried this, how your ideals might change afterwards. So listen to me: No matter your commitment today, when you bind to a crime like this, you spit on the rich experience of life."

Jennifer Kolar, another member of the ELF cell, pleaded guilty to the UW arson at the same time as Phillabaum. She was sentenced in July to five years in prison. Kolar played a role in an ELF rampage of arson over several years that included not only the UW, but also an Oregon meat packing plant, a Colorado gun club whose members killed prairie dogs for sport and a federal wild horse and burro facility where the animals slated to be killed for grazing on federal land were freed before the place was torched.

Briana Waters was sentenced in June to six years in prison after being found guilty at trial of the UW firebombing. Federal prosecutors allege that Waters -- like Kolar -- participated in other arsons.

Two other alleged ELF members accused of firebombing the Urban Horticulture Center have evaded justice. William Rodgers killed himself in a county jail in Prescott, Ariz., in December 2005 shortly after being arrested for the UW arson. And Justin Solondz, of Jefferson County, is a fugitive.

U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Burgess, in handing down the sentence, said: "Without her participation, and without her substantial assistance in this matter, this case might not have gotten off the ground."

He also ordered three years of supervised release for Phillabaum, who, like others convicted in the arson, is also on the hook for nearly $6.1 million in restitution.

Her sentence is too short. She should serve a minimum of twenty years for eco-terrorism. Send these ELF'ers to Gitmo, water board the lot of them and crush this organization.

One Washington

I said from the beginning that we are one Washington, and we’ve torn down the Cascade Curtain.

- Queen Christine, "Major strides have been made in economy, education, health care," Tacoma News-Tribune, June 29, 2008

A collection of environmental groups is asking its supporters to thank Gov. Chris Gregoire "for standing up for our health, safety and our environment by raising concerns over nuclear wastes from a uranium enrichment plant," once proposed for Richland.

- "Environmentalists praise Gregoire for raising concerns about Areva plant," Tri-City Herald, July 17, 2008

Now we know which "one" the Queen was talking about.

Aquiferealists vs. Aquinuts

The Lewiston Tribune has been runnning a series about water issues on the Palouse. What follows below is a compilation of quotes (Aquiferealists in blue, Aquinuts in red) from several articles that were published in the Sunday issue of the Tribune, along with my comments:

King Solomon vs. Science:

"It's a little scary," says Mark Solomon, a longtime water watchdog and current hydrology doctoral student at the University of Idaho. "There is a looming water crisis."

Even with state-of-the-art technology, no amount of scientific probing will ever provide total understanding of the groundwater supply on the Palouse, says a University of Idaho hydrology and water quality professor.

"There are geophysical tools that you can use," Fritz Fiedler says of equipment designed to collect underground data. "But they aren't very accurate. And they don't work well in deep systems like we have. The main aquifer on the Palouse, which is the Grand Ronde, is about 1,000 feet deep."

"There's always going to be uncertainty that we're going to have to manage around," Fiedler says. So while more scientific data is desirable, cooperation between user groups and agencies is much more critical at this point.

"I don't think there's a looming crisis," Fiedler says. "I really don't think we're about to run dry by any means. But in the future, maybe 15 to 20 years out there, it's much harder to tell."

"I'm not saying the decisions will be here next year. I don't think the situation is that dire at all," [Jan] Boll [director of the Univeristy of Idaho Waters of the West graduate program] says. "But it's a planning process that we all need. And that's what our process is trying to develop."

In the meantime, Boll says no crisis is imminent. In fact, he says, the aquifers may be much deeper than realized at this point.

Surface water is plentiful. Reservoirs could be built. Treated runoff could be injected into the aquifers. The technology is even available to pump and pipe water from the major rivers to the south. While perhaps costly alternatives, Boll says the availability of water is more than adequate for the region.

One thing for certain, warns Boll, no amount of scientific investigation will ever provide enough answers to erase all questions about how much water is available. "The thing we need to come to grasp with is the uncertainty we will always have. There is always going to be uncertainty about how much water is left and how much we can keep pumping."

I think in this case I'll go with the professors over the "student." And since there is no way we will ever know how much water is left in the aquifer, it only seems logical to implement thoughtful conservation measures and develop economical alternatives versus the radical growth-killing solutions advocated by King Solomon and his Knights of the Water Table.

Larry Kirkland vs. Bill French

Larry Kirkland, former PBAC executive secretary, counters that there is no shortage. "The water is here. It's just a question of how we can get it."

Enough precipitation, for example, falls on the Palouse to make the shortage debate moot, say Kirkland and other experts. They contend capturing runoff in reservoirs or injecting treated surface water into underground aquifers, while costly, would meet future demands.

Kirkland, after leaving PBAC and being able to observe the big picture, warns that fears about lack of water can be used as both political and legal levers. "Water can become sort of a spotted owl to establish what you want as far as social engineering."

The spotted owl became the focus of national attention decades ago when
conservation groups used the bird's endangered species status to block logging of old-growth forests.

The potential for alternative water sources aside, [Bill] French [of the Palouse Water Conservation Network] says there's something "obscene" about the current situation. "I just think it's ethically wrong to take a 20,000-year-old resource like pristine groundwater that got into the ground during the last ice age and dump it on lawns or flush it down toilets."

"Obscene? ""Ethically wrong?" Kirkland is right. The Aquinuts ARE comparing the "pristine 20,000 year old water" to a living creature like the spotted owl to block growth on the Palouse. Let's illuminate Mr. French about the water cycle, shall we?


There will never be any more freshwater on Earth than there is now. No new water is being made and water can’t escape from the Earth. The water we use is recycled over and over again. It is never "destroyed." It just changes states or moves somewhere else. So that "pristine" water that got into the Grande Ronde aquifer during the last ice age was on the Earth's surface for hundreds of millions of years in various forms (clouds, rain, snow, ice, rivers, oceans) before that. And when it gets to the surface again to water your lawn or flush your toilet, it will stay around for hundreds of millions of more years before going back into the ground, into the ocean, etc. Water is not a living creature that can die off and go extinct forever. That same water will be here long after we are dead and gone. Arguing over water on the Palouse is as silly as arguing over dirt would be. If we can't get water from the aquifer, we'll get it from somewhere else. As the scientists above stated, this is a region that has ample water supplies through rainfall, snowfall, and rivers.

Proof that the Aquinuts are all about anti-capitalist socialism and not water conservation (as if their rejection of any proposal to recharge the aquifer or build reservoirs isn't enough proof) comes from this April 2003 Moscow Co-Op newsletter (notice that Spokane attorney Rachael Paschal Osborn, who is leading the legal fight against the WSU golf course, was at the meeting being reported on:)

...the idea that a community can only thrive with unlimited growth and development is a notion that must disappear, hopefully before the water does.

Post-World War II economy was based on a planned scheme for consumerism—and it worked. The economy grew, people consumed and planned obsolescence became an accepted norm. We become anxious when we consider voluntary reductions of any type. But, we must begin to imagine a “restorative economy” where having less is truly more satisfying, more interesting, and of course, more secure.

In the relatively near future, we must achieve a balance between what we are consuming and the capacity of the earth’s ecosystems to provide, according to author and businessman Paul Hawken. “We need to create an economy… that is not an either/or argument, but a means to create the best life for the greatest number of people precisely because we do not know the eventual outcome or impact of our current industrial practices. In other words, we need an economy based on more humility.”

Bill French vs. Michael Echanove

Not that PBAC would curb pumping if it could, suggests French, who likens the pumping entities to foxes guarding the henhouse. "I think the whole concept of PBAC is flawed. I think PBAC was mostly formed to have the appearance of doing something. And it kind of fooled the state of Idaho into not stepping in to regulate water."

"The state of Idaho has a couple of designations they can put on a groundwater basin," explains French. His and other groups, in fact, waded in amid the Naylor flap to petition the Idaho Department of Water Resources to intercede and regulate pumping from both the Wanapum and Grand Ronde.

After another round of hearings, the state backed away in favor of a local solution. That solution, suggested by the IDWR, was to form an 11-member citizens group to offer advice to the 19 representatives of PBAC. The group, says French, had the potential to be a watchdog over PBAC. "But in practice, it (the citizens group) has just become a mirror image of PBAC. It's a group of people who get together once a month and talk about stuff but they never do anything."

Michael Echanove, chairman of the citizens group as well as mayor of Palouse, disagrees with French's assessment of PBAC.

More regulatory authority, however, isn't needed, Echanove says. What's needed is more scientific data about just how big and how full or empty the aquifers really are. "Until we get that data, it's just a bunch of people with opinions. And you've got universities that have their own projects. You've got counties that have their projects. I mean, I could make a career just thinking about it."

The politics of Palouse water, Echanove says, are perhaps best illustrated by the differing opinions of his mayoral counterparts in Pullman and Moscow.

"Remember, you've got to get elected. And you've got to be able to lead and you've got to be able to look at the big picture, as such, and you can't come in with one opinion and run with it, because you're not going to get anywhere."

Yes, the Aquinuts would love nothing more than to have an unelected body of envirocrats, who would of course have to buy into the idea of "looming water crisis," to beat back every new big-box store, golf course, highway, or housing project on the Palouse.

The fact remains that PBAC HAS been successful, greatly reducing water usage on the Palouse since 1992 (8.3% less than was pumped in 2006 than in 1992) through VOLUNTARY guidelines.

Nancy Chaney vs. Glenn Johnson

Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney was accused of social engineering when she leaped across the state line into Washington to legally challenge water rights for development of the proposed Hawkins Companies shopping center.

She defends her actions as an attempt to ensure water "sustainability."

"I come from a scientific background," says Chaney, who holds a master's degree in environmental science. "I get the scientific principle. I understand objectivity. But having entered the realm of politics, I've sort of straddled that line."

Ultimately, newly elected members of the Moscow City Council usurped Chaney's political power by agreeing to not just abandon the legal appeals, but to actually supply water to Hawkins.

Chaney laments that while the politics of water continue to vacillate, the groundwater supply will continue to drop. "It's certainly political. I think we should be informed by science, but there are competing interests. So we're sort of waiting out a cost-benefit analysis. We're looking at long-term and short-term values and things we can afford to gamble with and things we cannot afford. Unfortunately, political cycles don't coincide with natural resource needs."

Eight miles away in Pullman, Mayor Glenn Johnson declines comment on Chaney's tactics. "To be honest with you, I'm leaving that one alone."

As for the politics of water on the Washington side of the border, Johnson suggests they're quite different than in Idaho, and especially Moscow. "What we're trying to do is, we're not going to discourage growth over here. We're telling everybody that 'Yes, we know we have adequate water supplies, we've had plenty of research on that. But at the same time, we want you to conserve. We want to make sure you watch your use of water.' So that's the message."

Chaney comes from a "scientific background?" Oh, brother. She's a nurse, for God's sake. The only line she is straddling is the line between San Francisco hippie and all-out barking moonbat. The Queen's "realm of politics" will be over next year. meanwhile, Mayor Johnson's pragmatic political views have earened him two unopposed terms in office.

Those BIAW Billboards: An Eastern Washington Perspective

KXLY reported last week that the Building Industry Association of Washington paid to have 61 billboards reading "Don't Let Seattle Steal This Election" put up all over Eastern Washington. Unfortunately, I have seen none up around Whitman County.

These billboards have been officially denounced by the Rossi campaign. But the intent of the BIAW is clear. Turnout in Eastern Washington could have made a difference in the 2004 election that was decided by 129 votes. Many voters on this side of the state stayed home because they felt Rossi didn't have a chance. The BIAW is trying to motivate people to vote this year by reminding them of what happened last time. Predictably, west side pundits are wringing their hands over this. Joel Connelly of the Seattle-PI wrote in a column earlier this week:

The "Cascade Curtain" is, at times, a frustrating fact of life for folks from Oroville to Asotin.

Washington went nearly a decade without a statewide officeholder from Eastern Washington. The drought was broken last December as Gregoire named Spokane-based Judge Debra Stevens to the state Supreme Court.

Our last governor from Eastern Washington, Clarence D. Martin, left office in 1941. We haven't had a U.S. senator from east of the Cascades since C.C. Dill, "Father of Grand Coulee Dam," left office more than 70 years ago.

Yet, the "Cascade Curtain" has shown holes of late, doubtless to the anger of demagogues and dividers.

Initiative 912, a bid to roll back the state's gas tax increase, was defeated in 2005, with Whitman and Walla Walla counties joining the "Wet Side" of the mountains in voting for transportation.

Huh? Connelly had a pretty good list of our greivances going until he mentioned I-912. Two counties, with strong Democratic contingents, voting to reject I-912 is no "hole in the curtain" (but it should be a lesson to Whitman County voters that we empower liberal Seattleites by voting against initiatives like I-912 and I-933.) In fact, I-912 is a perfect demonstration of our frustration with one-party Seattle rule. In 2005, the public was scared into voting against I-912 , the initiative to repeal the 9 1/2 cent gas tax hike, by images of Hurricane Katrina and the 1989 Loma Prieto earthquake intermingled with the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. Three years later, after internecine squabbling between the Democratic governor and the Democratic mayor of Seattle, nothing has been done to fix the Viaduct and no plan for doing so has been put forth. And there is still no word on what the $1.6 billion earmarked from the "emergency" gas tax increase to replace the viaduct is going to be spent on.

The Queen showing up for a press conference in Spokane to declare a state of emergency because of the wildfires there and say we are "one Washington" does not bridge the "Cascade Curtain" either.

The greivances we have in Eastern Washington go far beyond the 2004 election. That is just the most well-publicized example of Seattle getting its way, no matter what, and thus a simple and politically expedient way to coalesce the many issues swirling around.

Here's a perfect example. The Queen's campaign called a press conference last week to denounce the billboards and trotted out the President of the Washington State Labor Council, the executive director of the Washington Conservation Voters, and the communications director for NARAL Pro-Choice Washington.

Are you kidding me? The three special interest groups (big labor, tree huggers, and abortion activists) that probably most offend conservative Eastern Washingtonians the most? This is her "One Washington" strategy?

The biggest greivance we have in Eastern Washington against the Queen at the moment is the certainty that she is completely in bed with radical environmentalists to ensure their continued finanical support and to avoid offending the King County granola vote. For instance:

The Queen's handling of the Areva deal that cost the Tri-Cities thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

The Department of Ecology's new stormwater mandates that threaten to drive future SEL expansion out of Pullman and costing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue

Proposals by the Democratically-controlled legislature to heavily tax our vehicles and stifle growth in the name of fighting "global warming."

The ill-fated "Yukon to Yellowstone" legislation that would have amounted to a huge Eastern Washington land grab by environmentalists.

Joel Connelly wondered if the BIAW's campaign to "pour salt into old social wounds" will succeed.

I'll let State Senator Mark Schoesler answer that, in comments he made in the Lewiston Tribune back on February 14, 2008:

Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, often has to hear west-side legislators preach about what eastern Washingtonians need. This session is no different.

A bill to promote the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative in eastern Washington passed through the Senate Wednesday, though it received almost no support from eastern senators, Schoesler said.

"It concerns me that Seattle senators say they know what's best for eastern Washington," Schoesler said.

It's time for a change. It's time to re-elect Dino Rossi as Governor of Washington.

"Paying a 'hidden cost'; Pullman residents lead effort to charge 20 cents per plastic bag"

Chuck "Mr. Civil Discourse" Pezeshki stated in a recent comment on Dnews.com that Pullman was the most "anti-intellectual" town he had ever seen.

Is Pullman sui generis? Or is the antipathy he observes the result of the meddling efforts by Chuck and his liberal academic chums to introduce envirofascist Nanny Statism into Pullman, such as a tax on plastic bags modeled after what Mayor Greg "Hugo Chavez" Nickels has attempted in Seattle?

I'll have much more on this later as I contemplate mounting a counter-effort to shoot this absurd proposal down.

From Friday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Liz Siler counted 22 discarded plastic shopping bags during a recent drive through College Hill in Pullman.

Some bags were caught in trees, while others were lying on lawns or blowing in the street.

"None of those bags were obtained with the idea that it was going to end up on the side of the road, but that's where they end up," Siler said.

Siler is among a group of Pullman residents who want to cut back on the use and distribution of plastic bags. Nearly 80 community members have endorsed a proposal that stores be required to charge 20 cents for each plastic bag dispensed inside city limits.

Plastic bags used for unpackaged items, such as produce, would be exempt from the fee.

The group recently submitted the proposal to the Pullman City Council for consideration, with the goal of having an ordinance go into effect Jan. 1.

Siler said in place of plastic bags, shoppers could get into the habit of keeping reusable bags tucked in their car.

"We're not trying to make things harder for people," she said. "We're trying to make things easier."

The proposal shouldn't be viewed as elitist, said Pullman resident Chuck Pezeshki. It will encourage change and show that residents respect and care for their community.

Though the commonly used bags are compact and currently free, Pezeshki said "there's a hidden cost for society" because many recycling facilities - such as WSU Recycling and Pullman Disposal Inc. - no longer accept the bags.

"If we can't recycle, we've got to reduce and reuse," he said, adding that lightweight bags can travel quickly through the wind or waterways.

The bags are made from petroleum and do not biodegrade, Pezeshki said. In fact, the plastic bags "photodegrade" in the presence of light, meaning they break into tiny pieces and can be eaten by animals. The bags also pose risks to animals that can become entangled in them.

"It's basically spreading petroleum all over the landscape," he said. "When you use a plastic bag, it's like an oil slick all over the land."

Siler said the idea to limit plastic bag use isn't new. She points to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' recent proposal to charge a "green tax" on disposable shopping bags, and added that San Francisco and communities throughout Alaska have banned the bags entirely. Ireland and China recently took similar action.

The Pullman group points to statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency to justify its cause - 4,630 tons of plastic bags, wraps and sacks were generated in the United States in 2006, of which only 8 percent were reused. The EPA also reports that a family of four uses about 1,500 bags per year.

Siler said the group has met some opposition from a few community members who are concerned they would have no way to pick up their pet waste or line garbage cans without plastic bags.

"No one's saying you can't have plastic bags," Siler said. "You're just going to have to pay for it."

Trev McCuaig, manager of Dissmore's IGA in Pullman, said the store is making strides to reduce plastic waste. Customers who want plastic bags get them, but there are other options. Inexpensive cloth bags are sold at the register, and many customers are eager to pick one up.

"Since we brought those in ... I think we've sold 700 to 800," he said. "I think there are a lot more people that are conscientious."

The store also uses recycled bags when they're offered by the supplier, and all plastic waste generated at the store is baled and sent to a recycling company in Spokane. McCuaig said the store also plans to set up a plastic bag recycling bin.

"There are things that we do at store-level to try to help out," he said.

Siler said the profits from bag fees could go to the Pullman Food Bank, which relies on the bags to package foods for area families. She suggests the money could fund an alternative method for the food bank to distribute food, or go to community beautification efforts.

City Supervisor John Sherman said the city frequently gets proposals and suggestions for change. They are forwarded to the City Council which ultimately decides whether the issue is discussed further.

Sherman said Councilman Bill Paul recently expressed interest in discussing the plastic bag fee proposal publicly, and the topic is scheduled for the council's Aug. 26 meeting. The delay is intended to allow interested residents who may be out of town for the summer to participate in the conversation.