Two ELF members plead guilty to 2001 arson

Two Washington women pled guilty in US District Court on Oct. 4 for helping to carry out a May 21, 2001, arson at the University of Washington (UW) Urban Horticulture Center, an Earth Liberation Front (ELF) attack that caused $7 million damage. US attorneys from the Western District office have characterized the case as the most detailed account yet of one of the most high profile and controversial of ELF attacks. The UW research facility was targeted because it was being used to genetically-engineer fast-growing poplar trees, which are grown for pulp and lumber. Fellow ELF members simultaneously attacked a 7,300 acre Oregon tree farm that was being used to grow the trees. Jennifer Kolar, 33, of Seattle, WA, and Lacey Phillabaum, 31, of Spokane, WA, were part of a five person team that carried out the action at UW. The team also allegedly included Briana Waters, Justin Solondz and Bill Rodgers, who committed suicide while in federal custody last December. The group broke into the office of UW professor Toby Bradshaw and planted an incendiary device that destroyed much of the building but left the trees, which were stored in a separate greenhouse, undamaged by the fire. An ELF news release, issued five days after the arson attacks, claimed responsibility for the action, saying the genetically-engineered poplars pose "an ecological nightmare" for the diversity of native forests. Kolar and Phillabaum are the first defendants to be convicted in the case. Both have pled guilty to arson, conspiracy to commit arson and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. Kolar has also admitted to a 1998 attack on a Colorado gun club. Phillabaum admitted to participating in a 2000 strike against genetically-engineered canola plants grown by Monsanto in Dusty, WA, and is expected to admit guilt in a July 1997 arson on a horse meat packing plant in Redmond, OR. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will ask US District Judge Franklin Burgess to waive mandatory minimum sentences for their charges. The bomb charge alone would otherwise carry a statutory minimum of 30 years, and a maximum term of life. The plea deal instead will ask that Kolar serve five to seven years. Phillabaum will face a recommended sentence of three to five years. Both have been cooperating with the FBI since last winter when the first seven arrests in the related Oregon case brought the investigation to the attention of the public. The two have allegedly agreed to wear a concealed wire recording device and attempt to help the government gather evidence on suspects and are bound by their plea deals to do so beyond their terms of incarceration. They will also be expected to testify at the trial of Briana Waters and possibly the trials of four others regarding the Oregon incident. Phillabaum, a former Earth First! Journal editor, is known for her role as the narrator of the underground documentary film "Breaking the Spell, which examines the 1999 Seattle WTO protests from the perspective of Eugene anarchists. Kolar has worked for a variety of animal rights and environmental causes throughout the years, including an effort to prevent the reestablishment of native whaling practices in Washington State. Kolar and Phillabaum were released without bail; sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2007.