'Greenie' on alert for bomb in the window

Peter Lusk

Peter Lusk waits nervously for a petrol bomb to fly through the window of his family's Westport home.

"It's very hard to know when it's coming and then if it does happen, you don't have time to do anything," says the outspoken West Coast conservationist.

"It's not beyond the bounds of possibility down here."

The 57-year-old fears the petrol bomb will be the next step in a bitter campaign waged against him and his "greenie" family by pro-mining advocates after protests that have bogged down coal mining ventures in the area.

On Saturday his letterbox was blown up by a pipe bomb. Police are unsure if he was directly targeted, but Mr Lusk said it was "crazy to think" he wasn't.

He has shifted valuables out of his home but refuses to leave with his wife Carolyn Cox and 9-year-old daughter Danielle because "we don't want these guys to win".

"If they win then that sort of sets things back again for years. Because no one will be able to speak out. It's really common here for people to say: 'Oh, you're a greenie, watch out or you'll get your house burned down."'

The West Coast has long been a province deeply divided over issues of conservation and vital industries such as logging and mining.

Mr Lusk recently resigned as spokesman for West Coast Forest and Bird and the Buller Conservation Group because of the ongoing threats. But it hasn't stopped the harassment.

"We have had various other things over the years, like rocks through the window, our garden sprayed with herbicide, and we had lemons chucked at our house recently, and threatening phone calls and stuff, but we haven't had a bomb before.

"It's a message: 'This time it's your letterbox, next time it will be your house.' We know we live in a pretty hostile place for greenies. There is this vigilante side of the West Coast that is pretty ugly."

Mr Lusk raised the ire of the miners by leading opposition against Solid Energy's lucrative new Stockton coal mine near Westport.

Police say a Government decision on whether protected snails can be moved to allow mining there to go ahead could influence whether action against Mr Lusk becomes more serious.

Constable Michael Voice said: "If they don't get the okay [to move the snails] then there will be workers that will be laid off up there, and that's what gets everyone upset is when the workers lose their jobs."

Solid Energy spokeswoman Vicki Blyth said the company would take a dim view of any employee who broke the law. "We certainly know and understand feelings are running deep."