WARRICK Jordan, a Newcastle-based environmental campaigner, will finally have his day in court today after his case was repeatedly adjourned.
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Jordan, 30, of Hamilton, will face Narrabri Local Court to contest several charges resulting from a coal seam gas protest in the Pilliga Forest in June last year.
Jordan has been charged with four offences and will plead not guilty to three charges.
The four charges are: two relating to entering inclosed lands, one relating to failing to leave a forestry area and one related to safety risks within a forest area. He said he would plead guilty to only the latter charge.
Mr Jordan allegedly scaled a drilling rig at an Eastern Star Gas site in the Pilliga State Forest.
Eastern Star Gas was bought by Santos in November 2011.
The case was originally scheduled for November 29, but was adjourned to January 27, then February 28 and now today.
The prosecutor had dropped three of the charges but replaced them with two others, which had caused the delay.
“The protest action in the Pilliga last June showed that the community has real concerns about the damage coal seam gas does to our environment,” Jordan said.
“People don’t undertake these actions lightly but – as we’ve seen in the Pilliga, Gloucester, Spring Ridge, the Scenic Rim and other places – people have had enough of having their concerns ignored.
“The continued revelations about the environmental damage done in the Pilliga, one of NSW’s most significant forests, have vindicated community opposition to Santos’ plans to turn the Pilliga Forest into a giant gasfield.”