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“Green” Homes Burned Near Seattle, Earth Liberation Front Implicated


By Matthew Frank, 3-03-08

 
  A photograph taken at one of the luxury homes in Seattle's Street of Dreams development. Courtesy of Northwest Property Imaging.

At least three luxury model homes in a suburb north of Seattle were destroyed by fire this morning and a sign implicating the radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front was found at the scene.

The homes were unoccupied in a high-end, green-marketed development on Seattle’s so-called ”Street of Dreams.”

As a KING-5 video shows, the sign purportedly left by ELF read: “Built Green? Nope black! McMansions in RCDs r not green. ELF” The initials “RCD” refers to “rural cluster development.”

The FBI was investigating the fires as a potential domestic terrorism act, according to the AP. The fires began before dawn and left an estimated $7 million in damages.

Setting the homes ablaze appears to be a malicious backlash against greenwashing, or marketing on the pretense of environmental responsibility. Nationwide, “green” building is the fastest growing sector in an otherwise slumping industry, and its widespread growth has brought questions about the merits of so many “green” claims.

The homes, more than 4,000 square feet in size, were part of last year’s Seattle Street of Dreams luxury home showcase, and all were certified “Built Green.” Built Green is a Washington-based non-profit builders association that promotes environmentally friendly design. The properties, which cost about $2 million each, included green building materials and practices such as “super-insulation,” dual flush toilets, Forest Stewardship Council certified Eco-Timber flooring, and drought-tolerant native grasses, according to Built Green’s website.

ELF’s point, if it is responsible, seems clear: multi-million dollar luxury homes in sprawling suburbs are inherently irresponsible, no matter how “green” they claim to be.

Sandy Dunn, the president of the National Association of Home Builders, said in a statement today: “ELF’s heinous crimes do nothing to further the cause of environmentally sensitive home building, and everything to degrade ELF’s own image in the public eye as a group of violent thugs who seek to damage and destroy property and put human lives in danger.”

Street of Dreams has won NAHB awards for its use of green building technology.

ELF has a history of arson and the New York Times runs through its recent attacks, including the 2001 fires at three location in Suffolk County, Long Island. Three nearly completed houses were burned and spray-painted messages on other houses nearby read “Stop Urban Sprawl,” “If you build it we will burn it,” and “Burn the rich.”

The Seattle Times reports that a $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those responsible for today’s fires.



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