In what is being described as the "toughest coal seam gas controls in Australia", the NSW government is pushing to protect another one million hectares of agricultural land from mining activities.
Despite pleas from the energy sector and warnings of an impending gas supply crisis, the NSW state government is preparing to introduce legislation banning coal seam gas drilling within two kilometres of residential areas.
According to The Australian, NSW Resources minister, Brad Hazzard, referred to the earmarking of 2.8 million hectares of agricultural land as "strategic land" as the "toughest CSG controls in Australia."
CSG companies hoping to operate on the land will have to first have their plans reviewed by a panel comprising six state-appointed groundwater, agricultural and mining experts.
While companies will be permitted to drill on Upper Hunter horse or viticulture properties that they've owned since September last year – when the government first announced the strategic land use plan for the Upper Hunter – all new CSG activity would be banned within two kilometres of existing residential zones across NSW. New CSG exploration and development in the northwest and southwest growth corridors of Sydney and within two kilometres of those areas would also be prohibited.
The restrictions are strongly opposed by the CSG industry, which fears gas supply will be seriously threated by 2016.