Eco-Terrorism

Monday, November 27, 2006, President Bush signed into law S. 3880, the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act," which expands criminal prohibitions against the use of force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises and increases penalties for violations of these crimes. Senator Inhofe, the author of the bill, worked closely with Senator Feinstein (D-CA) and Representative Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) to gain broad bi-partisan support, resulting in the bill’s unanimous passage in the 109^th Congress.

The origins of S.3880 began in February 2005, when Senator Inhofe, as Chairman of the EPW Committee, opened an inquiry into radical environmental and animal rights groups who use criminally-based activism in an effort to influence public policy.  Groups such as the Earth Liberation Front (”ELF”), the Animal Liberation Front (”ALF”), and Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty (”SHAC”), to name a few, use crimes of violence like arson, bombings, and property destruction to frighten individuals, companies, and governments into abandoning work affecting the environment or animals. After taking testimony through two EPW Committee hearings (May 18, 2005 and October 26, 2005) from multiple victims, officials from the FBI, DOJ and the educational and scientific communities, Senator Inhofe found that many of these extremists’ tactics were, in fact, not addressed by current law. In particular, Senator Inhofe became concerned about the sophisticated form of fear-based activism using threats, stalking, harassment, and intimidation to frighten those away from their work on animals.

As a result, Senator Inhofe introduced this legislation to provide law enforcement the tools they need to adequately combat such radical animal rights extremists’ dangerous tactics. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act was drafted with technical assistance from counter-terror experts at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act:

•The AETA gives needed protection to scientists, medical researchers, ranchers, farmers, and any other industry involving animals by expanding current law to address violent tactics used by animal rights extremists to frighten law abiding citizens away from their work.

•Prohibiting the animal rights extremists’ violent tactics will ensure that important animal enterprises, like biomedical industries, stay in California for example, rather than go to India or China.

•The AETA gives law enforcement the tools they need to adequately combat radical animal rights extremists who commit violent acts against innocent people because they work with animals.

•The AETA was introduced after the EPW Committee held two hearings on the issue.

 •The AETA has express first amendment protections.

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