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Travel Trailers The Sierra Club announced tonight that an expos will appear in the May/June issue of Sierra, the official magazine of the Sierra Club, revealing how a Denver-based mining company secretly paid off Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists under the auspices of "international security."

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Travel Agency The story also shows how the Bush administration's Homeland Security and Justice Departments turned a blind eye when first informed that Denver-based Echo Bay Mining Co. paid millions of dollars to the international terrorist group Abu Sayaff and other terror groups in the Philippines in exchange for protection of its gold-mining operations.

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Last Minute Travel However, shortly before the Sierra magazine investigation was reported on tonight's edition of ABC's World News Tonight, the Justice Department reversed course and announced that it would open an investigation into Echo Bay's operations. Tipped off by the Sierra story, U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Mark Udall, D-Co, also issued letters calling for a congressional investigation into Echo Bay and the general practice of U.S. corporate support for international terrorism.

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Aloha Airlines The Sierra magazine investigation, titled "The Cost of Doing Business," is the result of a two-month investigation by Marilyn Berlin Snell, a writer/editor at Sierra. Allan Laird, a project manager for an Echo Bay project located on the southern Philippine island of Mindano, brought the story to the Sierra Club because of its well-known opposition to mining operations.

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Travel Agent While working for Echo Bay, Laird discovered a money trail that led straight from the mining operation to the most violent terrorist organizations in the Philippines - two of which had direct links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. Laird unsuccessfully urged Echo Bay executives to release information to U.S. government agencies concerning the company's knowledge of terror groups operating in the Philippines and their extortion of money from Echo Bay and other companies. Laird subsequently contacted the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, which both declined to act on the information. At that point, Laird approached the Sierra Club's International Programs Director Stephen Mills, who shared the story with Sierra for further investigation.

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Travel Agents "I came to the Sierra Club because I felt that they had principles and would listen, and that they would take action," Laird said.

Discount Airfares In the Philippines, Echo Bay's mining operation sat in the middle of territory controlled by the New People's Army (NPA), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - all known terrorist organizations. The radical Islamic group Abu Sayaff was also active in the area, as was the Lost Command, a splinter group of the MILF and MNLF. The MILKF had direct links with Al Qaeda.

Travel Deals Internal company documents obtained by Laird show that Echo Bay was aware of terrorist entities in their project area from the outset. But the Philippines 1995 Mining Act made investment in the country so attractive that these red flags were ignored. The Mining Act "streamlined" the environmental permitting process, allowed for 100 percent foreign ownership, gave tax holidays, allowed easy repatriation of all profits, and guaranteed against expropriation by the Philippine state. Mining corporations from around the world came to the Philippines after the Act's passage to take advantage of the extractive opportunities; it is estimated that corporate mining claims staked out 40 percent of the nation's land area. Some of these corporations even helped write the Act.

Air Fares The Sierra Club is calling for immediate congressional investigations to determine whether this was an isolated incident confined to the operations of one company, or a standard practice for extractive industries. There are many other U.S. multinationals involved in natural resource extraction operations in politically unstable countries around the world.

Travel Insurance "Americans have the right to know whether this was an isolated incident confined to the operations of one company, or if this is standard practice for extractive industries," Mills said. "Attorney General (John) Ashcroft should return to the 9-11 Commission to explain his failure to pursue this dangerous financial relationship with Al-Qaeda and other known terrorist groups. It makes you wonder if multinational polluters are exempt from the Patriot Act just because they are Bush campaign contributors."

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Travel Trailer Sierra Club: The Sierra Club's members are more than 750,000 of your friends and neighbors. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. The Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

Ata Airlines SIERRA Magazine: With a circulation of approximately 700,000, SIERRA is the largest environmental news magazine in the country. Aimed at helping its readers "explore, enjoy, and protect the planet," the bi-monthly publication is distributed to Sierra Club members, by subscription, and through newsstands. SIERRA is a finalist for three of the Western Publications Association's "Maggie" awards this year.

Travel Agencies CONTACT:
Brian O'Malley 202-675-6279

Travel Guide Sierra Club - 4/15/2004

Topic: Mining

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