COMMUNITY groups say the state government's new coal seam gas (CSG) plan is still unclear about exploration and mining in the Sydney Water catchment buffer zones.
They called for the "special areas", including the land around the Woronora catchment, to be specifically protected in legislation.
The plan, announced late last week, adopts in full recommendations made by NSW Chief Scientist Mary O'Kane.
It includes a freeze on the assessment of new PEL (petroleum exploration licence) applications and legislation to extinguish 16 previous applications.
A new assessment framework, taking into account economic, environmental and social factors, will be established to consider future applications, but this will not be in place until the middle of next year.
A government source said companies holding PELs, including three covering the Sydney water catchment, were sent letters on Friday inviting them to meetings, where they would be offered back the $1000 paid for a licence.
If they did not accept, and lodged new applications instead, they would have to go through a rigorous assessment process, the source said.
But Protect Sydney’s Water Alliance, made up of a range of community groups, said that the situation still remained unclear.
Spokeswoman Isabel McIntosh said the legislation should be amended to provide permanent protection for the catchment ‘‘special areas’’.
Stop CSG Illawarra spokeswoman Jess Moore said the plan is ‘‘big on rhetoric, light on detail’’.
‘‘The government is saying: ‘Trust us, we’ll make CSG safe in the near future’,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s stalling until after the election.’’
MPS ‘CONFIDENT’
Liberal MPs Mark Coure (Oatley) and Lee Evans (Heathcote) said they were confident the new plan would stop further activity in the Sydney Water catchment buffer zones.
Mr Coure (see related story about Knitting Nannas) said NSW had ‘‘the toughest coal seam gas laws in the country’’, but he would pass on the concerns of the community groups to Premier Mike Baird.
Heathcote MP Lee Evans said he did not believe any application to explore in the Sydney Water catchment would ‘‘pass the test’’.
‘‘I am very confident we have seen the end to CSG activity in the Sydney Water catchment, which the previous Labor government allowed,’’ he said.
Do you think the government needs to clarify the situation?
