The classic forward-looking development-versus-backward-looking conservation storyline peddled by the mining company, Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, a subsidiary of Gabriel Resources, and apparently bought by the Romanian government, always seemed too simplistic...The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters came into force in October 2001 and has been ratified by the EU. Another piece of self-strangulating UN and Brussels red tape? Or a genuine extension of democracy into areas with a crucial effect on people's lives, such as the quality of air, water and the wider environment? An alliance of NGOs is taking RMGC to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee on the grounds that public access to the EIA has not been provided. Rosia Montana is becoming a test case not just for Romania's nascent democracy but for environmental democracy in the wider world.