Not surprisingly, the U.S. Defense Department is asking Congress to exempt it from environmental laws that are burdensome and restrict military training. Hearings were held in March on the Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative. Brock Evans, a spokesman for the Endangered Species Coalition, called the exemptions a "shocking occurrence" at a press conference of several environmental organizations. Given the extraordinary performance of our military in Iraq, shouldn't we give these people what they want and need?

Also in April, an environmental group called American Rivers has engineered the buy- out of the Naches Hydropower Plant near Yakima, Washington. Owned by Pacificorp, the Naches Hydropower Plant is a large power producer in the western United States, and the plant had been in operation since 1904. All of a sudden, though, the Naches River became "navigitable", a legal definition that had never previously applied to it. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is required to insure that such plants do no harm to 90% of the fish in such rivers. The cost to Pacificorp to meet this requirement turned the plant into a liability.

This is what all "environmental" laws are intended to achieve. Washington State will spend $1.2 million and the Bureau of Reclamation will spend $7.3 to buy and close down the plant. The fish will be happy, but those who received their electricity from this plant are likely to see their energy bills rise. A nation that lacks sufficient energy generation will find itself in decline sooner or later. The Greens oppose any energy generation other than windmills and solar panels.

Amidst all the war news coming out of Iraq, it was easy to miss the bombings occurring here at home. Oh? You didn't know about them? How about the attempted bombing of not one, but two McDonald's in Chico, California, in March? The perpetrators had scrawled "Meat is Murder," "Species Equality," and "Animal Liberation Front" in red spray paint on the exterior of the Happy Meal's home.

And it's not just McDonald's and other fast-food establishments the Animal Rights lunatics have declared war upon. In March, Michelle Malkin, a syndicated columnist, took note of the way these domestic terrorists have declared war on the United States. Oh? You didn't know about that either? In a manifesto published on several Leftwing Internet websites, "eco-thug" Craig Rosebraugh called on the antiwar crowd to take "direct actions" against American military facilities, government buildings, and against corporations and media outlets. Sounding like al-Qa'ida, the manifesto called for at- tacks on the financial centers of the nation, urged large-scale urban rioting, and efforts to close down national networks. Okay, right about now you're thinking, but this guy is one lone nutcase. Wrong! There is a widespread Animal Rights and Earth Liberation network of people ready to do whatever they can to wreak havoc here at home.

Also in March, David Barbarash of the North American Animal Liberation Front re- leased its annual report for 2002 and bragged over "100 illegal direct actions" commit- ted against American businesses, government agencies, and universities. Didn't know about that either? Well, now you do.

The problem, of course, is that these attacks occur here and there, are never reported in a cohesive fashion, and the result is that we don't see how they add up over the years in terms of the harm done. Nor are they perceived to be another form of war on Ameri- ca. But they are.

It is time to use the Patriot Act against the Green and Animal Rights terrorists in our midst. Indeed, it is long overdue.

Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). He is the author of A POCKET GUIDE TO MILITANT ISLAM and THE UNITED NATIONS VS. THE UNITED STATES, both available from the National Anxiety Center, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040.

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