''Assurances written into law'' … Fiona Simson, from the NSW Farmers' Association, addresses the inquiry yesterday.
THE state's peak farming group has told a government inquiry it will fight to change the law to give landholders the right of veto over coal seam gas drilling on private land.
The NSW Farmers' Association said the uncertainties surrounding the industry were having a corrosive effect on rural society and more blockades would take place unless farmers were given the power to say no to gas extraction.
The state's two largest coal seam gas companies, Santos and AGL, took a conciliatory line at the NSW upper house inquiry hearing in Sydney yesterday.
Both said they were listening to the concerns of landholders, and Santos announced that ''as an act of good faith'' it had withdrawn plans for the controversial proposed Mullaley gas pipeline that would have run from Narrabri to Wellington.
The farmers' association has written to all 20 coal seam gas companies in NSW, asking them to request that the state government pass legislation giving farmers the right to say no to drilling on any of their land. At present, if agreement cannot be reached over land access, the parties must attend arbitration, but there is ultimately no legal right to refuse coal seam gas exploration.
Wyndham Weekly
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