The following doesn't work with Groovy 1.1 beta 3, neither in interpreted nor in compiled mode. Adding 'public' and/or 'final' to the declaration of 'temperature' doesn't change the picture. With beta 2 the program works in compiled but not in interpreted mode. -------------------------------------------------------- E:\dev\tmp\test>type A.groovy class A { static def temperature = 42 } E:\dev\tmp\test>type B.groovy import static A.* class B { static def main(args) { println temperature } } E:\dev\tmp\test>groovy B org.codehaus.groovy.control.MultipleCompilationErrorsException: startup failed, B.groovy: 4: the name temperature doesn't refer to a declared variable or class. The static scope requires to declare variables before using them. If the variab le should have been a class check the spelling. @ line 4, column 35. static def main(args) { println temperature } ^ 1 error E:\dev\tmp\test>groovyc *.groovy org.codehaus.groovy.control.MultipleCompilationErrorsException: startup failed, B.groovy: 4: the name temperature doesn't refer to a declared variable or class. The static scope requires to declare variables before using them. If the variab le should have been a class check the spelling. @ line 4, column 35. static def main(args) { println temperature } ^ 1 error