The Illawarra has been declared Coal Seam Gas free after the NSW government announced it had bought back and cancelled Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL 2), the last remaining licence in the Illawarra.
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Energy company AGL announced on Monday the results of its ‘‘Upstream Gas Review’’ which included the disposal of PEL 2.
The licence area covered almost 7000 square kilometres from Fitzroy Falls, through Sydney’s water catchment, north to the Central Coast. Stop CSG Illawarra spokeswoman Jess Moore said PEL 2 was the sixth and final PEL covering parts of the Illawarra to be cancelled, but by far the largest and most significant as it covered much of the drinking water catchment.
Ms Moore said the cancellation was a big victory for the campaign and came through a combination of resistance from the community and pressure on the government.
‘‘All CSG licences in our drinking water catchment are gone; licences that should never have been issued,’’ Ms Moore said.
“It’s a champagne worthy – or maybe a cheers with some tap water – moment, after over four years of campaigning.’’
Kiama MP Gareth Ward said he was ‘‘thrilled that the NSW government had taken the responsible step of cancelling this licence’’.
‘‘I can finally declare the Illawarra CSG free,” Mr Ward said.
“Under Action 4 of the NSW Gas Plan, the PEL buy-back scheme has now seen 15 PELs bought back from their titleholders and cancelled.
“This government has now reduced the footprint of CSG from over 60per cent of the state to 9per cent.’’
However, when asked if the Illawarra could officially be declared CSG free, Ms Moore said ‘‘yes and no’’.
‘‘What it means right now is there is not a single CSG licence in the Illawarra for the drinking catchment for greater Sydney, however there is nothing to stop the government issuing a new licence in the catchment tomorrow as the legislation has not changed,’’ Ms Moore said.
‘‘The campaign is not over. If this government is serious about securing our drinking water supply, they’ll go beyond cancelling licences and announce a ban.’’
Ms Moore said questions remained over how much the government was spending on buying back the licences.
Mr Ward said he was unable to say how much the buy-back would cost.
‘‘At the end of the day if we just cancelled the licences we would’ve ended up in court,’’ Mr Ward said. ‘‘The only legitimate way was firstly to regulate the industry ... and secondly offer a buyback scheme.’’
