The New South Wales state government has finalised exclusion zones and other safeguards to protect homes and high quality farmland from coal seam gas (CSG) projects across about 5.3 million hectares.
Making the announcement the NSW conservative Liberal-National Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner said the reforms struck the right balance for communities and industry.
“Today marks a significant milestone in this government’s commitment to balance the energy needs of the state and the need to support our vital agricultural industry,” he said in a statement reported by AAP Newsagency.
CSG exclusion zones were in force for an estimated 95 per cent of dwellings covered by current petroleum licences and tough regulations were also in place for NSW’s most valuable agricultural land, Mr Stoner said.
He said the government had delivered the strictest regulations around CSG projects in Australia.
CSG exclusion zones now applied to 2.7 million hectares in NSW, Mr Stoner said.
Mr Stoner said an additional 2.8 million hectares of valuable farming land was safeguarded by ensuring the impacts on land and water or resource proposals were considered upfront through the independent scientific Gateway process.
Protection of “critical industry clusters” includes 60,000 hectares of vineyards and horse studs in the Upper Hunter region.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Brad Hazzard said in October that CSG exclusion zones with a two-kilometre buffer had been set up across existing residential zones and the northwest and southwest growth centres of Sydney, where new CSG activity is prohibited.
An additional five future growth residential areas have since been added in the Gosford and Great Lakes council areas, he said.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said the safeguards were a “common sense” victory for those concerned about CSG projects in urban areas but “key water resources and sensitive environmental areas” remained at risk.
“Drinking water catchments are still not protected, neither are important natural assets like the Pilliga Forest, which is set to be carved up and polluted by gas development,” campaigns director Kate Smolski said in a statement reported by AAP.
The “independent scientific gateway” process, under which a panel conducted a preliminary review of an application before a full proposal was submitted, was pointless, she added.
“The panel has no power to refuse. The gateway is permanently propped open, leaving productive agricultural land exposed to mining and gas development.”
The Australian Greens Party in NSW called on the government of Premier Barry O’Farrell to increase the amount of land protected from CSG mining.
“Only 3.37 per cent of NSW’s land area is protected from fracking for coal seam gas, and only 0.4 per cent of land is classified as a critical industry cluster,” Australian Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said in a statement.
He said “96.6 per cent of NSW, including most agricultural, environmental and tourism areas, can still be turned into a gas field”.
