Santos's Mark Rodgers, who runs cattle in the district, says the company is determined to put things in the Pilliga right Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: The Australian
THE coal-seam gas industry's campaign to win over farmers and environmentalists has suffered an inside blow, with claims from Santos one operator regularly ignored spills, was not open with its partners and potentially cleared land without approvals.
The gas giant made the claims about Eastern Star Gas, its operating partner in the Pilliga State Forest, in a report to the NSW government yesterday.
Eastern Star, which was chaired by former Nationals leader John Anderson, was the major CSG operator in NSW before it was bought by shareholder Santos in November.
Santos, which will now spend $20 million upgrading Eastern Star's operations in the Pilliga after a spill, painted the situation as wholly Eastern Star's fault because Santos was just a minority partner in the venture at the time.
"We've had clearly limited access to information, you are talking about a culture of not disclosing both to shareholders and the government," Santos head of eastern Australia, James Baulderstone, said.
The Australian
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