UPDATE: Georges River Environmental Alliance secretary Sharyn Cullis said AGL’s decision to surrender Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 2 was ‘‘brilliant news’’.
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‘‘It was very timely given our ‘pop-up picnic’ at Woronora Dam yesterday,’’ she said.
Ms Cullis said the impact of longwall mining in the catchment remained a problem, and protests would continue until action was taken to stop the damage.
Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy, Anthony Roberts announced the cancellation of Petroleum Exploration Licence (PELs) 2, 4 and 267 after AGL announced it would surrender all three licences.
PEL 2 covered 668,102 hectares stretching from south of Fitzroy Falls, through western Sydney to west of Lake Macquarie.
PEL 4 and PEL 267 covered extensive areas of the Hunter, around Muswellbrook, Scone and Denman and Singleton, Broke and Maitland.
Mr Roberts said the three PELs covered almost 2 per cent of the state.
‘‘The buy-back scheme, action 4 of the NSW Gas Plan, has seen 15 PELs bought-back from titleholders and cancelled,’’ he said.
‘‘We have now reduced the footprint of CSG from around 60 per cent of NSW to nine per cent.
‘‘The buy-back of PEL 2 now means there is no CSG title covering the ‘special areas’ of the Sydney Water catchment.’’
Asked whether a permanent ban would be imposed on CSG operations in the Sydney Water catchment ‘‘special areas’’, he said any future application would be stopped by the government’s strategic land release program.
The program would ‘‘decide where, when, how and if, land will be released and for what purpose ... for resource allocation’’.
‘‘The door’s not open, not at all,’’ he said.
PREVIOUS: Sydney's drinking water will be protected from coal seam gas (CSG) operations, with gas company AGL announcing it will sell back to the state government its exploration licence over the catchment "special areas".
The decision is part of a wide-ranging review of the company's areas of interest.
The announcement came a day after protesters gathered for another "pop up picnic at Woronora Dam, where they called on AGL to surrender PEL (petroleum exploration licence) 2.
Other licences covering parts of the drinking water catchment were surrendered early this year, but PEL 2 was the largest and most significant.
Are you pleased with the decision?
