Plan Would Create Eco-terrorism List   

OLYMPIA -- Tucked into the Senate Republicans' budget is $50,000 to create a database of people and organizations believed to be involved in eco-terrorism.

Opponents say the proposal smacks of McCarthyism, and they worry that overzealous list makers could label peaceful activists as terrorists.

"Almost anybody could end up in this database," said Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Olympia, who tried unsuccessfully yesterday to delete the provision, which she called "spooky" and "scary."

"One of the great things about America is that you can go out and protest anything," Fraser said. "We need to be very careful about protecting people's political rights."

The provision was prompted by recent attacks in the state by animal-rights extremists, such as the August release of 10,000 minks from a Sultan fur farm and the 2001 arson that destroyed the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington.

The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the CUH arson, while the Animal Liberation Front took responsibility for the mink release.

"All we are doing here is aiding law enforcement," said Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, in defense of the database proposal. "We are not funding some sinister plot."

Stevens proposed legislation earlier this year, Senate Bill 6114, that would have stiffened penalties for crimes related to eco-terrorism and created a database for law enforcement. The hefty price tag for the harsher sentences killed the bill, but Senate Republicans incorporated the database funding into their budget. It's not in the House Democrats' spending plan.

The Senate budget, passed yesterday, would provide $50,000 to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to do "an assessment of environmentally or politically motivated crimes against animal or natural resources facilities" and to create a database with "a list of persons and organizations involved in eco-terrorism activities."

Senate Democrats complained that state law doesn't define eco-terrorism, so the law officers group would have the power to decide who should be in the database.

Fraser noted that U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige this week called the National Education Association, the teachers union, a terrorist organization. "The word 'terrorism' is being thrown around a little loosely in some quarters these days," Fraser said.

Stevens called those concerns spurious. She said the police and sheriff's group would use the FBI definition of eco-terrorism, although that isn't specified in the budget language.

"They are going to be looking at who is doing damage, not ... activists who are protesting," Stevens said.