Arsonists Torch Drilling Machine in Manawatu (NZ)

24 April 2008
Palmer­ston North, Man­awatu-Wan­ganui- Van­dals stalled con­struc­tion in the Man­awatu Riv­er water­shed by torch­ing a $750,000 drilling machine. Mul­ti­mil­lion-dol­lar con­struc­tion projects in the area have sparked heat­ed bat­tles between cur­rent res­i­dents, envi­ron­men­tal advo­cates and devel­op­ers. While above ground eco-groups attempt to slog out com­pro­mis­es in the courts, clan­des­tine sabo­teurs have been cost­ing the con­struc­tion indus­try mil­lions in addi­tion­al expens­es each year. Mal­colm Aber­nethy, a tech­ni­cal advis­er to the Con­trac­tors’ Fed­er­a­tion, has said that, small acts of arson and van­dal­ism are a seri­ous threat to indus­tri­al progress. “Every night some­thing prob­a­bly hap­pens, but it’s not always report­ed.”

Torched drill24 April 2008
Palmer­ston North, Man­awatu-Wan­ganui- Van­dals stalled con­struc­tion in the Man­awatu Riv­er water­shed by torch­ing a $750,000 drilling machine. Mul­ti­mil­lion-dol­lar con­struc­tion projects in the area have sparked heat­ed bat­tles between cur­rent res­i­dents, envi­ron­men­tal advo­cates and devel­op­ers. While above ground eco-groups attempt to slog out com­pro­mis­es in the courts, clan­des­tine sabo­teurs have been cost­ing the con­struc­tion indus­try mil­lions in addi­tion­al expens­es each year. Mal­colm Aber­nethy, a tech­ni­cal advis­er to the Con­trac­tors’ Fed­er­a­tion, has said that, small acts of arson and van­dal­ism are a seri­ous threat to indus­tri­al progress. “Every night some­thing prob­a­bly hap­pens, but it’s not always report­ed.”

The drill, which belonged to Black­ley Con­struc­tion, was the only one of its kind in the coun­try, and oper­a­tions man­ag­er Kevin Bush said the drill was an inte­gral piece of equip­ment and the inci­dent would prob­a­bly trig­ger a change in the com­pa­ny’s pro­to­cols. Addi­tion­al expens­es would like­ly include increased secu­ri­ty trans­port­ing valu­able heavy equip­ment back and forth from job sites twice a day. “We get hit about once a month I’d say. Not this big, but gen­er­al­ly some­thing will be tar­get­ed,” Mr Bush said.

Sim­i­lar acts of van­dal­ism and sab­o­tage in the U.S. are seen as dead­ly, seri­ous acts of ter­ror­ism. Fed­er­al law enforce­ment has made the dis­rup­tion and appre­hen­sion of under­ground eco-groups like the Earth Lib­er­a­tion Front a greater pri­or­i­ty than right-wing groups with a his­to­ry of indis­crim­i­nate bomb­ings, lynch­ings and assas­si­na­tions. Envi­ron­men­tal­ly moti­vat­ed van­dal­ism, while it has yet to have even injured a sin­gle per­son, was ranked by the FBI as “the No. 1 domes­tic ter­ror­ism threat” in 2005. The Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and anti-abor­tion fanat­ics were baf­fling­ly not ranked as seri­ous threats. Eco-sabo­teurs have as of yet not injured a sin­gle per­son, while Chris­t­ian anti-abor­tion ter­ror­ists have mur­dered near­ly a dozen peo­ple and maimed more than 100 in the U.S. alone. Envi­ron­men­tal­ists who are appre­hend­ed rou­tine­ly face life­long prison sen­tences for their actions.

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