moratorium could threaten casino gas

Excellent News today...

But unfortunately also some bad news... Perhaps the reason for the cautious share price today


http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2010/10/27/moratorium-could-threaten-casino-gas-project/

Moratorium could threaten Casino gas
27th October 2010


The future development of the Metgasco gas field near Casino was thrown into doubt yesterday after the NSW Opposition refused to rule out a moratorium on new coal seam gasdevelopments across the State.

Opposition industry spokesman Duncan Gay said the Coalition won't rule out agreeing to the call from the NSW Farmers Association, which is worried about the environmental impact from drilling and extraction, particularly the risk posed to farmland and water resources.

However, Richmond Valley mayor Col Sullivan said he would be opposed to a blanket moratorium based on what is happening in Queensland.

The project here is very different to what is happening in Queensland, so I would have real concerns if they applied it across the State without thinking about those that could proceed, he said.

Metgasco general manager David Johnson told The Northern Star last week that his company had never used the now banned toxic chemicals which have been associated with groundwater contamination.

Mr Gay said he had been presented with the framework for the moratorium last week at Parliament House by Farmers'
Association mining taskforce chair Fiona Simson.

We're not ruling it out, but we've only just had a look at it last week, he said of the proposed moratorium.

Parts of our policy hang off this moratorium and were things that we actually developed, so obviously we're going to agree with those.

Mrs Simson said NSW had experienced a recent boom in coal seam gas exploration, which had left the State dealing with copious amounts of useless water.

The water left over from exploration activities was unsafe, even after treatment', she said.