Augusta Margaret River Shire council candidates:
PROTECTING the environment will be Peter Lane's top priority if elected to the Augusta Margaret River Shire October's council in next month's local government elections.
Mr Lane said maintaining a clean green image for the shire is important if business and tourism are to survive and thrive in the town.
"A good environment not only good for the area it's good for business," he said.
"When you think about wine, food and surfing beaches everything is reliant on the environment.
"I can't think of anything which does not rely on having a good environment."
Mr Lane has proven his worth campaigning on the environment's behalf using his background in science to come up with new ideas and strategies for land use.
In 1991 he campaigned against the building of the Ten Mile Brook dam and urged the Water Corporation to take water from the Yarragadee Aquifer.
"That campaign failed and as a result a beautiful valley was destroyed," he said.
"Operationally the dam also failed and our water comes from the aquifer and the dam is used only as storage of this water.
"Tens of millions of dollars were wasted."
In 1996 he ran for Greens WA in a bid to stop that this timee logging of old growth forests, while he was not elected, the campaign to save the forests was a success.
More recently he was involved in the fight to save Mowen Forest and undertook hydro geological studies to demonstrate the coal mine proposed at Osmington presented a risk to aquifers. The Environmental Protection Authority then rejected the mining application and prohibited coal mining in the area.
"Progress can not only be made without trading off our environmental assets, it goes hand-in-glove with keeping these assets," he said.
Mr Lane believes he is ready for the public office environment and is eager to throw his hat in the ring.
"I understand the critical importance of financing, budgets and rates," he said.
"Rates need to be kept as reasonable as possible. The last increase in rates was too high."
