Coal seam gas a hard sell for the NSW government

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This was published 9 years ago

Coal seam gas a hard sell for the NSW government

Deep fissures of mistrust will not be easily overcome as the Baird government tries to sell its coal seam gas policy in regional NSW. Unlikely coalitions of hardcore activists and conservative farmers are united in protest over fears about the effect on water, land, air and property values.

By Nicole Hasham

Coal seam gas may be his bete noire, but Ed Robinson still likes a good gas barbeque. Several times a week, the beef farmer fires up the grill on the back verandah of his Gloucester home, and cooks up a carnivore storm.

"We eat a bit of everything: chicken, pork, steak, red meat … it depends on the day," he says.

Ed and Tina Robinson with their dog Smudge on their property in Gloucester.

Ed and Tina Robinson with their dog Smudge on their property in Gloucester.Credit: Jonathan Carroll

"I think we've got to have gas, and mining has to take place somewhere. But it's got to be in the right place".

That place, Robinson says, is not a few hundred metres from his 160 hectare farm, cleaved by the Avon River, where upstream gas company AGL is drilling and fracking for coal seam gas.

"I keep asking 'what's going to happen to my water supply, what's going to happen to the river? What's going to happen to my patch?'" Robinson says.

"AGL says everything's perfectly fine, there are no problems. I just don't believe them."

As the March state election approaches, the Baird government faces no harder sell in regional NSW than coal seam gas. The government's gas policy released last week is a bid to restore public faith in an industry seen by some as dishonest and cavalier. But deep fissures of mistrust will not be easily overcome.

"There is no doubt that the system under the previous government simply wasn't good enough and trust was eroded," Resources Minister Anthony Roberts says.

"Managing the CSG industry will now be done on our terms".

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It is broadly acknowledged that the NSW coal seam gas rollout in the first decade of the millennium was a veritable dog's breakfast: licences were dished out carelessly and regulation was deficient. Consultation was poor – some communities heard about drilling plans by reading about it in the local paper – and the industry has conceded it was slow to address public concerns.

The rush on licences, largely triggered by a shale gas boom in the United States, provoked a fierce, organised grassroots backlash. Unlikely coalitions of hardcore activists and conservative farmers united in protest over fears about the effect on water, land, air and property values.

The NSW Coalition government came under increasing pressure to rein in the mining industry's problem child. It tightened the rules and put the brakes on CSG development, including a 2km exclusion zone around homes and a freeze on new lic­ences.

Coal seam gas proponents were unimpressed. They accused the government of driving investment out of NSW, stymieing jobs growth and failing to insulate consumers from rising gas costs. Queensland's export ambitions are expected to force up east coast gas prices, by tying domestic prices to the international market.

Enter the NSW Gas Plan, a long-awaited policy the government says will overwrite the glitches in the coal seam gas program and secure the state's gas supplies.

It promises tougher regulation, better science and data collection, and a more strategic, transparent approach to deciding where gas exploration can take place.

But much of the detail – including what parts of the state will be open for drilling and the exact conditions to be imposed on the industry – will not be revealed until after the election, deferring voter backlash.

Until recently, petroleum titles and applications covered 60 per cent of the state – much of it prime agricultural land. The government says it will reduce that area to 15 per cent, but more coal seam gas projects are likely to emerge once the new regulatory regime is in place.

Compensation to landholders will be mandatory, 16 pending licence applications have been extinguished and the Environment Protection Authority will assume responsibility for enforcement and compliance.

The plan was informed by NSW Chief Scientist Mary O'Kane, whose landmark coal seam gas report in September concluded that, while "unintended consequences" were inevitable, the risk to human health and the environment could be managed.

But entrenched community suspicion could thwart government's attempts to assuage concern.

"Many CSG opponents simply do not trust any gas companies ... or the government and politicians, or the media," a background paper to the report said, noting that "trust is much easier to destroy than create".

The coal seam gas industry says it should be allowed to prove itself worthy of public confidence.

"Plans don't necessarily build trust – action does," says Paul Fennelly, chief operating officer of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

"Only by delivering oil and gas can the industry dispel the myths and mistruths propagated by its opponents."

He accepted the need for better communication, but says "wild claims" about the industry were allowed to go unchallenged for too long, adding that oil and gas is "one of the most safety-conscious and most technologically sophisticated industries in the world".

Despite the government's pains to mollify disquiet, fears persist, even among its own MPs.

In his farewell speech to Parliament this month, Ballina MP Don Page took a parting shot at the coal seam gas industry, saying it should not be allowed in his electorate.

Oatley MP Mark Coure and Heathcote MP Lee Evans remain opposed to coal seam gas mining in water catchments – a move the government has refused to rule out – and Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson says the fertile black soil of the Liverpool Plains should also be quarantined.

Pro-gas pundits have traditionally accused environmental "extremists" of hijacking the coal seam gas debate in ideological defiance of fossil fuels - although the industry's flat footedness in allaying concerns arguably created a vacuum that allowed criticism to flourish. The Greens contend that the public's well honed "bullshit detector" prompted the hostility.

Nationals leader Troy Grant says the gas plan will stop each side "yelling at each other" by replacing doubt and emotion with clear-cut scientific facts.

The government will invest in better and more accessible data, including an online portal where the public can scrutinise the information. Water monitoring will also be expanded.

But Lock the Gate Alliance NSW coordinator Georgina Woods, whose organisation is opposed to coal seam gas, said no matter what the science says, toxic chemicals used by the industry meant there were "big hurdles before people would accept that it could be a risk-free undertaking", especially in sensitive water catchments.

An AGL spokeswoman said the company was working hard to earn trust in Gloucester, where it plans to drill up to 300 wells, adding "there are sections of the local community who support what we are doing".

She said water quality was subject to thorough monitoring and AGL was acting on public concerns, such as conducting a baseline study on fugitive gas emissions.

Government and industry are not the only parties suffering from a deficit of trust when it comes to coal seam gas – community members have been pit against each other, and farmers who allow drilling on their land have been ostracised.

On the mid north coast, groups such as Gloucester Supports Mining have formed to challenge their anti-coal seam gas neighbours.

A member of the group, Kylie Cole, said she was persuaded by AGL's claim that its activities are safe, and says "I can't see AGL doing something that's going to destroy the countryside".

Despite pacifying efforts by government and industry, farmer Ed Robinson will take some convincing.

"Let's see the devil in the detail of the policy. Too many times has this government lied to us," he says.

"This is my superannuation, this farm. It doesn't make a lot of money but it's a very pleasant life.

"All I'm asking is, can someone tell me exactly what's going to happen here?"

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