Unfortunately for us we aren't privy to the communication...

Unfortunately for us we aren't privy to the communication between Cougar and DERM. At this point I feel Cougar has not had any other option than to deal with the facts and keep moving forward as further information unfolds.
It would appear that certain local farmers, local government identities and politicians stopped listening to the facts quite some time ago.
What will be interesting now is how long DERM will stretch this out and whether their treatment of Cougar is consistent with their treatment of other UCG companies. In the end they too will have to justify their actions based on the facts.
And yes I agree, one would anticipate a response from Cougar based on the current information.