House Republicans probe ecoterrorism threat against America’s energy infrastructure

A group of House Republicans opened a probe into threats against the country’s energy infrastructure after an uptick in calls for violence by climate change activists on college campuses.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, the lawmakers requested a briefing from the director on the ecoterrorism threat and what it could mean for the country’s energy security.

“With radical environmentalists around the world commonly engaged in the destruction or attempted destruction of art and other property, blocking transit, disrupting private gatherings, and delaying energy infrastructure projects, the Committee seeks to understand the threat that environmental violent extremists also pose to the physical energy infrastructure of the United States and implications for national security,” the lawmakers wrote.

They asked Mr. Wray to provide a briefing by April 22.

The letter was signed by House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, who chairs the committee’s national security panel, and committee member Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida.

The inquiry is a response to growing climate change activism, especially among younger people around the world.

The lawmakers mentioned how the FBI Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate issued a warning last year to federal, state and local authorities that a film adapted from the book “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” by climate activist Andreas Malm could spark ecoterrorism attacks on U.S. energy infrastructure.

“In addition to the FBI’s warnings, 23 other government entities, including a Canadian energy regulator, also issued warnings relating to the impacts of the film and the threat it might create in the context of environmental violent extremism,” they wrote.

The book, according to the publisher, is about “forcing fossil fuel extraction to stop — with our actions, with our bodies and by defusing and destroying its tools.” It is now included in the required reading at multiple universities across the country and is sold at Harvard University’s online bookstore.

“We need, in short, to start blowing up some oil pipelines,” Mr. Malm argues, according to an excerpt from the book.

The lawmakers said the book “admires violence and terrorist activities beyond ecoterrorist motivations.”

“The director, the writer, and the editor of the film adaptation of the book appeared on a podcast justifying ecoterrorism against infrastructure, arguing that destroying energy infrastructure should be construed legally as ’self-defense’ and that the definition of terrorism doesn’t include acts against infrastructure,” the lawmakers said.

After being questioned by Mr. Waltz at a March hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mr. Wray said that making the book required reading in college was “totally unacceptable.”