NSW:NSW not following Qld urban mining ban

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2011
NSW:NSW not following Qld urban mining ban

SYDNEY, Aug 16 AAP - The NSW government has rebuffed a Greens call for Premier Barry
O'Farrell to follow the lead of his Queensland counterpart Anna Bligh and ban mining exploration
in urban areas.

The Queensland government announced on Monday that it would prohibit exploration in
urban centres, providing a two-kilometre buffer around towns with a population of 1000
or more.

NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham called on Mr O'Farrell on Tuesday to provide the same
protections in NSW, where coal seam gas (CSG) exploration has also become a divisive political
issue.

"In NSW right now there are major mining projects occurring perilously close to major
centres," Mr Buckingham said in a statement.

"The entire Sydney metropolitan area is covered by coal seam gas exploration licences,
as is the Illawarra, the Central Coast, Newcastle, Taree and other centres.

"Bligh's decision is a recognition by a government in a major resource state that mining
and gas exploration and development has gone too far and that urban areas are simply not
suitable for these activities."

Last month the NSW government announced it would introduce a moratorium on the controversial
"fracking" process used in CSG mining, and ban the use of toxic chemicals.

However, a 60-day moratorium on new exploration licences for coal, coal seam gas and
petroleum was allowed to expire.

Mr Buckingham has introduced a bill into the NSW parliament for a 12-month moratorium
on CSG exploration.

Responding to the Queensland ban, a spokeswoman for NSW Resources Minister Chris Hartcher
said, "The NSW government has no current plans to impose a 2km buffer between CSG extraction
and residential areas".

"The NSW government is currently developing its Strategic Land Use Strategy to deliver
a comprehensive framework for the management of competing land uses across NSW," she said.

"We have also moved to introduce more stringent environmental planning assessments
to address concerns some communities have raised regarding environmental standards for
minerals exploration and mining."

Opponents of CSG mining, including the Lock the Gate Alliance and the NSW Greens, will
protest outside a NSW government mining conference in Sydney on Thursday.

AAP ab/wjf/dep

KEYWORD: CSG NSW

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