Eco-terrorists take toll.

No place is safe--not urban centers nor rural towns--from attacks of "domestic terrorists."

According to the FBI, since 1977 some 1,000 crimes in the name of the environment or animal rights have caused $100 million in damages.

Recently, the rhetoric has grown bolder and attacks more destructive. Organizations such as Earth First, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Earth Liberation Front have torched luxury homes, condominiums and ski resorts from New York to Colorado to California; destroyed agricultural research plots; freed caged animals; and vandalized expensive fur coats.

Arsonists set fire to the agricultural hall at Michigan State University in 1999 to protest biotech developments. Damage totaled $1 million. Fires in empty luxury homes in rural areas of California, New York and Pennsylvania have cost several million in the past year. In San Diego, where fires decimated four homes under construction in an upscale neighborhood, culprits erected a sign opposing development. SUV dealerships were vandalized in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, Calif., to protest "gas guzzling" vehicles and their contribution to air pollution.

Earth Liberation Front, one of the more violent eco-terrorist groups that began in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, has moved to cities. It claims responsibility for a string of arsons in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego and Philadelphia over the past 12 months. The group is the FBI's No. 1 domestic terrorism priority.

Although damage has mounted in suburban settings, "rural communities are among the most vulnerable to attack," says Claude Allen, deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Many mistakenly believe that terrorism is an urban problem and that [rural areas] are safe."

With their limited public safety and health care systems, rural areas have few resources with which to respond.

States are using federal terrorism preparedness funds to bolster their infrastructure, including laboratories, communications, disaster training and epidemic preparedness for urban and rural areas.

"I know how important it is that we prepare our communities and our industries for possible terrorist attacks, foreign and domestic," says New York Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito.

Destito, along with New York Senator Michael Balboni, co-chairs a joint legislative committee on disaster preparedness and response. They are using the committee to learn more about vulnerable sectors in the state, one of the foremost being agriculture, and how to protect them.

Radical environmentalists hit surburbs

The Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group that originated in the Pacific Northwest, claimed responsibility for a string of arsons in the suburbs of Detroit, Los Angeles and San Diego in the past 12 months. Since the attacks first surfaced in 1996, they have caused more than $100 million in damages.