Hear no evil, see no evil, smell no evil.

It seems the ball game for us had only just begun, but for the other side, its already half time as we await it Environmental Impact Statement. The EIS!.

For some time now the game has been slowly unfolding in the community. The proponents of the Charcoal Factory, Australian Silicon with their preferred partner NSW State Forests using tax payers money, release a series of large glossy posters headed "Lithgow Silicon Project" all backed by NSW State Government and "Sweet Heart" deals, they entered what is laughably called "community consultation"

Public Information Meetings are play to packed houses as the Yellow Team gain ground filling in all the missing details like, water usage, emissions sludge and trucks.. The Charr Team goes into a spin, -this was not supposed to happen, they are fighting back, - Block the Yellow Teams advances, can't let them get away with telling all the nasty bits. Attack them publicly, call it misinformation, ridicule them, discredit them, brand them greenies, radicals, extremists, spreaders of misinformation.

A big soft sell glossy booklet full of pretty pictures and not one negative item flooded the area. Not convinced, 2500 Mums, dads and children, rise up and march in a rally the equivalent of more than 250,000 marching through the streets of Sydney.

Daily squawks on radio and in print by the team leader that -you wont hear it, see it , or smell it is a bit like the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, smell no evil. The Charr Teams war cry "wait till the EIS comes out" echoed throughout the community like the heralding of some god. Council joined in claiming to know no more than we do.- Well we all know now that, that was not the case, don't we?

November and the EIS arrives, 28 days to read and digest over 600 pages of technical information that has taken months for a Company of experts to write. Look closely, that elusive site identity remains unidentified. This is a foul. How is it possible to write a submission when we are not even told the site location? What else is missing?

At long last a public Meeting with The Charr Team experts to answer questions. - What about the highly toxic Pyroligenous acid that the EIS claims will be eaten in 48hrs by "a bacteria",- What is the bacteria's name? - "well we haven't worked out which bacteria it is yet and when we do it will be in the PLAN"! Sorry folks but this is misleading and there is a penalty in the Act for supplying misleading information.

We grab the ball, 1500 Submissions set a record that exceeds the previous number lodged by almost double, and the community overwhelmingly send a big message to Bob Carr --NO CHARCOAL.--

The Residents Action Group. (PO Box 1221 Batemans Bay. 2536)

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