It is one of the biggest inconsistencies in Australian industry.
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While the coal seam gas boom reaches its peak in Queensland, employing more than 30,000 people and fuelling projects worth more than $50 billion, the industry has remained a flashpoint for community opposition in NSW.
In the Illawarra, that community opposition has centred around fears that chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, used to extract CSG, could poison the water catchment area.
It is a claim Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association chief operating officer for eastern Australia, Paul Fennelly, dismisses.
"It's an argument used to demonise industry and is simply unfounded," he said.
"Robust, state-of-the-art drilling practices protect both the surrounding environment and water table as gas is sourced hundreds of metres below shallow aquifers used by landholders.
"Hydraulic fracturing is a process used to improve gas flow that uses 99 per cent sand and water, and approximately 1 per cent additives."
That 1 per cent is one of the many reasons that Wollongong City councillor George Takacs doesn't support the industry. He pointed to recent news that coal seam gas company Santos had been fined after contaminants leaked into an underground aquifer at its Pilliga Forest operation as proof the industry couldn't be allowed to proceed in the Illawarra.
Cr Takacs also said it was unlikely the industry would be able to store the large amounts of water necessary for mining without risking the Illawarra's drinking supplies.
"The Pilliga is fairly flat - if they're having problems there, what's going to happen when they're doing it in the middle of a catchment area?"
Mr Fennelly blamed activist groups for the industry's slow pace of development in NSW compared with Queensland.
"[These groups] add no credibility to public debate with an agenda that aims to halt the resource production that powers our industries and homes," he said.
"Once people get a firsthand look at the industry in action and the benefits it brings, they soon realise that information provided by professional activists ... is without foundation."
However, Cr Takacs said the opposition was due to people in more densely populated NSW having more time to prepare for the arrival of the industry.
He said there had been opposition to the industry in Queensland but it was limited due to lack of awareness at the time.
"By the time it started down here in a densely populated area, people were more aware of what happened in Queensland."
Member for Kiama Gareth Ward has defended his support of a moratorium on coal seam gas mining in the Illawarra water catchment area until ‘‘the evidence of any impact is clear’’.
The current moratorium was introduced last year and is pending a review by NSW government chief scientist Mary O’Kane.
Since then, there has been pressure on the government to introduce a permanent ban on CSG mining in the water catchment area, and a bill is before the NSW Parliament aiming to prevent all coal seam gas licences in the catchment area being renewed.
However, the bill, introduced by Labor, is unlikely to get the numbers needed.
Mr Ward said he would await Ms O’Kane’s report before forming an opinion on whether CSG mining should go ahead in the catchment area.
‘‘I lobbied for the moratorium and for evidence to be prepared,’’ he said.
‘‘I think we need evidence upon which to base policy decisions in government and this is exactly what we are doing.’’
Mr Ward said the debate surrounding CSG had been filled with ‘‘a lot of emotion but there hasn’t been a lot of facts and evidence’’.