NEWCASTLE IS A MASSIVE EXPORTER OF COAL. RISING TIDE is a group of climate change activists who got into coal loader properties & made a peaceful, spectacular, albeit risky, protest. The operators of the loaders have sued the protesters using a law created to provide compensation for victims of violent crimes....

Port Waratah Coal Services use of victims support and rehabilitation law to sue climate change protesters for over $500,000 is grossly disproportionate to the crime, cynically manipulates the legal process, and insults victims of violent crime.

It will do little to deter media-savvy activists.

The protesters took desperate, dangerous, but peaceful action because they believe that the burning of coal may well contribute to the extinction of human beings. The vast majority of expert climate change scientists agree. Yet governments and the coal industry are still burying their heads, cashing in and recklessly gambling with our future.

PWCS Newcastle currently exports about 100 million tonnes per year, which will rise to a potential 133 million tonnes in late 2011. It has planning approvals for 145 million tonnes. [Supply Chain Review, 27/1/11]

The unseemly haste to ship out so much coal, so quickly, looks like naked greed. Or are exporters afraid that it's only a matter of time till the burning of coal becomes uneconomic or is banned?

In fact, PWCS and big coal mining companies should be sued. Like tobacco companies, they know their product is hazardous, but continue to sell it, in far greater quantities than is necessary to maintain infrastructure.

And if more than forty protesters can access dangerous coal loader sites, as reported, PWCS has been negligent and needs to drastically improve its security. What if trespassing youngsters or violent terrorists decide to visit a coal loader?

Instead of wasting scarce police and judicial resources on a vindictive, PR driven court case, PWCS should be fair dinkum and simply employ expert, effective security people and systems.