This is a joke right? Bwahahahahaaaa :eek::D:D:confused: Mike...

This is a joke right? Bwahahahahaaaa

Mike Baird to sell land for gas projects

• THE AUSTRALIAN
• FEBRUARY 6, 2016 12:00AM
• Mark Coultan

The NSW government will release new areas of the state to gas exploration, with Aboriginal land councils getting priority to claim the leases following the decision of AGL to withdraw from coal-seam gas exploration and production.

The Baird government has bought back leases covering large parts of the state following strong opposition to coal-seam gas, hoping that two major companies, AGL and Santos, could develop coal-seam projects and demonstrate they could be built without environmental damage.

But AGL announced this week that it would abandon its Gloucester project because of low prices for gas and lack of gas flow from Gloucester, which would have cost about $1 billion to develop. It also announced it would close its Camden production centre from 2023, about 12 years earlier than expected.

The NSW government is expected to attempt to obtain gas from desert regions where community oppositions to coal-seam and conventional gas are lower.

As part of a deal that extinguished previous applications for CSG leases, the government agreed to insert a clause in legislation giving priority to previous claimants. This was on behalf of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, which had made four applications for gas exploration leases.

The decision to enter the gas industry is controversial within the Aboriginal community, with some seeing it as a path to financial independence while others see it as incompatible with their role as custodians of the land.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has a half share in Paradigm Resources, which has diamond, graphite and gas interests in western NSW.

Paradigm says it is targeting reserves that aren’t coal-seam gas, although it says the areas identified are conventional gas and “tight reservoir systems”, which is extracted in the same way as CSG.

NSW Aboriginal Land Council deputy chairwoman Anne Dennis said involvement in the resources industry was a key part of its economic development strategy and a new era for Aboriginal people.

“It’s early days in the process but ... it has the potential to create jobs, training, build an economic base for our people and create opportunities for Aboriginal people to contribute to local economies,’’ she said.