GOP Rushes To Fight New Terror Threat

As the Oversight Committee gears up to begin an inquiry into potential threats against domestic energy infrastructure coming from climate change groups, House Republicans are asking for a briefing from the FBI on the prospect of ecoterrorism.

Chairman of the Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the National Security Subcommittee Glenn Grothman (GOP-WI), and Representative Michael Waltz (R-FL) have requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray schedule a briefing on the threat to energy infrastructure and how it will impact national security. The Washington Examiner first obtained the letter.

“The Committee wants to understand the threat that environmentally violent extremists also pose to our physical infrastructure and its implications for our national security,” the U.S. House members wrote in the letter. Radical environmentalists are known to regularly destroy or attempt to destroy art and other property, block transit, disrupt private gatherings, and delay energy infrastructure projects.

As the campaign against climate change gains traction on college and university campuses around the nation, the committee announces the start of its investigation. The members cite claims that activist Andreas Malm’s book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, is required reading for numerous courses at various universities, including Ohio State University.

Malm contends that the ruling class has not done enough to address climate change and that the “rational response should be to go for fossil fuel infrastructure: seek to destroy fences surrounding power plants; occupy pipelines, as protesters did for the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines,” according to a NY Times review of the book.

The FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate issued an alert to federal, state, and municipal authorities the previous year, warning that a movie version of the book might “ignite ecoterrorism” against the nation’s energy system.

“You referred to this book being required reading in colleges as “totally unacceptable,” and you committed to continuing to look at any related terrorism threats and financial sources enabling those real threats,” the lawmakers wrote in response to questions from Rep. Michael Waltz during a hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 12, 2024.

The committee requests a briefing by April 22 at the latest. Comer called it “dangerous and deranged” that Malm’s book is required reading in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

“This curriculum’s dissemination is a firehose for radical environmentalists, and it could spark threats to vital domestic infrastructure,” Comer stated. “This Committee must make sure that the FBI is treating these threats from eco-terror groups seriously, and in order to get this information, a secret briefing in a suitable location is required.”

The correspondence coincides with a discussion among House Republicans regarding the electoral advantages of endorsing climate change mitigation, especially as the issue gains greater prominence among the electorate. Some colleagues have cautioned their peers not to ignore the issue, stating that the GOP cannot afford to ignore it.