The State Government should cease issuing production licences for coal seam gas production until a "comprehensive framework" for regulating the industry is developed, a parliamentary inquiry is set to recommend.
The inquiry's report, due to be released today, is also understood to recommend a moratorium on the controversial extraction method of "fracking" be continued until the national regulator finishes testing the chemicals involved.
Fairfax has learnt it also advises the five-year "royalty holiday" granted to coal seam gas miners be scrapped and a strict limit be placed on "fugitive emissions".
The inquiry, chaired by Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Brown, was established after a proposal by Greens MP and mining spokesman Jeremy Buckingham, its deputy chairman.
The cross-party committee which carried out the inquiry attracted more than 900 submissions after it was announced last year, and travelled the state taking evidence from communities affected by coal seam gas exploration and mining.
The expected tabling of its report coincides with an anti-coal seam gas rally organised by farming and environment groups outside NSW Parliament today.
Illawarra Mercury
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