for Sunday Herald, 23 November 2003
The UK environment group, WWF, has rejected its share of a £3.5 million handout from the French multinational, Lafarge, because of the company's refusal to abandon its plans for a controversial superquarry on the Western Isles.
On Tuesday Lafarge is going to court in Edinburgh in an attempt to keep alive its hopes of removing the side of mountain at Lingerbay in south Harris. It wants permission to dig out up to 600 million tonnes of rock for building roads and railways across Europe.
The superquarry, which was first proposed 15 years ago, has attracted widespread opposition because it would destroy the natural beauty of the area. It has been rejected by the Scottish Executive, but Lafarge has launched an avalanche of legal actions aimed at overturning the decision.