Baird govt buys back more CSG licences
The Baird government is continuing its efforts to defuse the issue of coal seam gas before the state election with the buy-back and cancellation of two more CSG licences in NSW.
Two Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs) have been bought in the Northern Rivers, following an earlier announcement on Monday that the government had done the same with a PEL on the Central Coast.
The Greens, however, want to know how much the buy-backs are costing taxpayers.
The government won't release final figures until the end of the program in mid-March, but some media reports have quoted last week's purchase of a CSG exploration licence covering part of the Sydney Basin at $200,000.
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said small players are cashing out of the CSG game.
"With public opinion set against coal seam gas and the oil price in the doldrums, the licences being cancelled by the government are essentially worthless," he said in a statement on Monday.
"The areas being cancelled are also where CSG is least advanced and least likely to be developed. This is a pre-election taxpayer-funded bailout of small gas companies, while the government paves the way for Santos and AGL to develop their toxic gas fields."
CSG is an issue both the Baird government and Labor are working to offset in the lead-up to the state election on March 28.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley is touring the Central Coast on Monday and last week targeted seats in far north NSW, where he proposed a CSG moratorium across the state.
He said it would include a ban on activity on the north coast and in sensitive water catchment areas in Sydney.
"The government should go the whole way and match Labor's policy for a state-wide moratorium on CSG," Mr Foley told reporters in Ourimbah on the Central Coast.
"They still have a memorandum of understanding with Santos to fast track the Pilliga CSG project.
"I am glad the Liberals are starting to hear community concerns, but they have further to go to match Labor's moratorium on CSG."
