Eco-terror group linked to arson of green homes

Mar 3, 2008, 23:39 GMT

San Francisco/Seattle - Three luxury houses built using the latest green building techniques were burnt to the ground Monday in an arson attack linked to the radical eco-terror group Earth Liberation Front.

A sign bearing the initials of the group mocked builders' claims that the 400-plus-square-meter homes were environmentally friendly. The site is called a rural cluster development, or RCD.

One said 'Built Green? Nope, black!'

Another sign referred to the RCD's proximity to a local creek that is home to the endangered Chinook salmon.

'McMansions in RCDs r not green,' said the sign.

Four houses were targeted in the pre-dawn arson attack on the street of model homes in the new development just outside Seattle, the Seattle Times daily newspaper reported online.

One home was spared when the firebomb placed inside it did not go off. Total damage in the attack was estimated at 7 million dollars, the Times reported.

The homes used 'green' techniques such as water-pervious sidewalks, super-insulated walls and windows and products made with recycled materials, such as carpet pads.

'It's very disappointing to take a situation where we're tying to promote good building practices ... and that it's destroyed,' said Doug Barnes, the Northwest division president of Centex Homes, one of the builders affected by the attack.