NSW Minister for Resources and Energy Chris Hartcher said last week the new conditions showed the government was listening to the community. But judging by the response of the CSG players to date one would be forgiven for thinking that NSW was taking the safest option and the path of least resistance.
The responses from CSG companies in NSW have been less of the doom-and-gloom kind and more of the "we welcome the government's action" type.
Metgasco and Dart Energy played down the impact of the state government's extension of the moratorium on fraccing to December 31, 2011, saying they did not use fraccing to complete their wells (at least in NSW).
Prior to the announcement on Thursday, Eastern Star Gas managing director David Casey had also said the coal seams in the Gunnedah Basin, NSW, had been naturally broken and did not require fracture stimulation.
The ban on the use of toxic BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) chemicals also appears likely to be a bit of a non-event as most of the same companies have already claimed that they do not use BTEX in their CSG operations.
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association had also said previously that it supported bans on the use of BTEX and that the CSG industry did not use nor plan to use them.
Another condition that is expected to have minimal impact is that on public consultation guidelines aimed at increasing transparency and accountability.
Both Metgasco and Dart have said they strived to be open about their operations and would continue to do so.
About the only area where the new rules may have some effect is the requirement that companies producing more than 3 megalitres of water need to have a water access licence. Water evaporation ponds will also be phased out.
Even here, Metgasco said the area it worked in tended to produce low levels of water, a point which Dart raised as well. Metgasco added that while evaporation ponds were a "useful" form of handling produced water, it was - along with its fellow CSG players - evaluating more efficient ways of water handling and treatment.
It appears that while the conditions set by NSW targeted the most prevalent concerns raised by local landowners and lobby groups, they are also conditions that the CSG players are for most part already adhering to.
It is no surprise, then, that at least one commentator expressed concern the moratorium was aimed at allowing the backlash against CSG operations to die down after several widely publicised incidents in Queensland.
With the responses from the companies, it is not hard to see why the NSW Greens are considering a bid to put a 12-month moratorium on all CSG operations.
This is also the stance taken by the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils, which called for a complete ban on areas considered to be prime agricultural land, though it accepted the government had taken as much action as it could at this point.
Working out a balance between CSG exploration and development and concerns about farming land and water supplies is probably going to be akin to walking a tight rope while both sides fire cannonballs in your path.
Here the NSW government may have taken the best route it can for the moment.
But CSG players would do well to remember that maintaining good community relations and proper education to allay fears and concerns about its operations could represent the best way to alleviate the current climate of hostility towards the sector.
