[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] announced six arrests [press release] on Thursday in connection with a series of ecoterrorism attacks in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001. Four arsons and the destruction of a transmission tower owned by the Bonneville Power Administration [official website], a government power agency, were the basis for the charges. The Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks. No one was hurt in any of the attacks, but the economic consequences were high; the 2001 fire at a plywood factory caused $500,000 in damages. In February, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified [JURIST report] before a Senate committee that animal rights groups and environmental extremists pose a domestic terror threat and in May, another FBI official testified that violent environmental and animal rights groups are the nation's top domestic terror threat [testimony transcript; JURIST report]. Friday's New York Times has more.