Local input into mining debate important

(Letter to the editor of the Southland Times today)

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt is no stranger to mining, having spent plenty of time tunneling through Fiordland rock when he was a younger man.
  Nowadays he seems to be taking a more cautious approach to industries that impact heavily on the environment and asks, in his Mayoral Moments column:
"Should Southlanders accept mining or should we fight tooth and nail to protect our environmental heritage and clean, green image?"
  The answer is obvious to me, but the National Government seems to have dismissed it and grinds-on with its pro-mining agenda in our region, despite what Southlanders might think about it.
  The mayor, referring to Southland's goldmining past adds: "Our wealth is based on exploiting the environment, and now we have to reverse our mindset and collective memory."
  District Mayor Frana Cardno echoes his disquiet.
  She says on her mayoral blog;
"Of grave concern to me personally and to many others I talk to in Southland is the mining of our lignite resources."
  Could someone please tell John Key and his pro-mining ministers that Southlanders, especially our mayors, want to have their say about his plans to tear up the place?