EEG trial update. The Brown Mountain landmark trial has begun.

NEWSFLASH! Environment East Gippsland v Loggers. Court case begins tomorrow (March 1, 2010) between Environment East Gippsland for Brown Mountain against the Government and logging interests. All welcome. This is a very important test of our environmental and democratic laws. In the preliminary hearings Judge Forrest did not make going ahead with the case dependent on EEG providing a financial bond for costs to the logging interests if EEG lost the case. This public interest decision on his part has made this case possible. The requirement of such a bond was what stopped Blue Wedges from going ahead to represent the public and try to stop the dredging of Port Philip Bay.

[Video inside article] The recent Auditor General's Report on the incompetence of the Victorian Government's wildlife statistics collection and maintenance mean that the Victorian government could not logically have the authority to make decisions about sustainable forestry where local fauna habitat is affected, in the opinion of this candobetter.org writer and environmental sociologist. It seems to me that Environment East Gippsland has clearly won its case in advance. But we have to get the information out there so that it cannot be ignored. See also: Damning Auditor General Report on Fauna protection for Victoria

Acland was the site of the last underground coal-mine in Queensland's Darling Downs, closed in 1984. Now the town itself will disappear into the maw of a vast new open-cut coal-mine, and with it all the creatures that cannot get a ticket out - like the koalas and the trees. Mark Copland asks, "What is the price of progress - and who will bear the cost? He compares the treatment of Acland people to the treatment of the people on the Planet of Pandora in the film Avatar, where miners from earth were prepared to sacrifice almost anything in the pursuit of more of something, which ultimately, will never be enough. Copeland says, "I am sure when the Acland mine was first proposed there was never any mention of closing down a town."

Originally published as "Community must ask who bears the cost of progress" by Dr Mark Copland of the in the Tooowoomba Chronicle of 5 Jan 10 (URL of article unkown).
See also: Web site of the New Hope coal company: www.newhopecoal.com.au (including environmental impact statements, newsletters and assorted other pro-coal-mining propaganda); Friends of Felton web sites: www.fof.org.au, www.friendsoffelton.blogspot.com. (See article for links to other articles related to Acland.)

What you can do: Sign e-petition calling for resignation of Queensland Government. For further information, please read "Why Queenslanders must demand new state elections" of 8 Jan 10. The original candobetter.org name of this article was originally "The Pursuit of Unobtainium in Acland, Queensland."

Avatar is a remarkable movie, about a fabulous world and an old story with some great new twists and perspectives. This is an exciting and skilled 3D graphics state of the art creation which puts the viewer on a new planet in the skin of an alien tribe. We discuss this experience and the political message of the movie.