Protecting Leard State Forest from open-cut coal mining

Over one hundred people blockaded three entrances to the site of Whitehaven Coal’s controversial Maules Creek coal project, near Boggabri in north west NSW yesterday, stopping preparatory work to clear the forest.

One of the people who risked arrest yesterday is 75-year-old Raymond McLaren, from Tamworth, who has never taken part in this kind of activity before.

Mr McLaren said, “This protest is a remarkable convergence of people with a common interest in protecting a unique forest. I am here to defend the forest.”

Read more in The Land.