CSG circus checks out Casino

Metgasco CEO Peter Henderson at the Corella 11 lease site.

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Driving into Casino in my little four-cylinder Festiva there is a big truck bearing down on me from behind. I have the iPod in shuffle mode and Johnny Cash is singing Peace in the Valley and it all seems very appropriate; big industry is coming to these peaceful valleys.

I am on my way to a site inspection of one of Metgasco's gas wells.

The NSW Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into coal seam gas is in town, with their first public hearing at Alstonville today (Wednesday, September 21). The members of the committee have also been invited to speak to Metgasco and inspect a well site, and to speak to landowners at Kyogle before the formal hearing at Alstonville.

And they have invited the circus along for the ride.

Media coverage about coal seam gas is everywhere at the moment. ABC's 7.30 program had a report this week and it was on Insight on SBS last night. The Sydney Morning Herald has sent a reporter along to join the circus and we chat about how there has been a seismic shift in public opinion about the industry in the past 12 months. Cow cockies who have voted for The Nationals all their lives and dyed-in-the-wool greenies are holding hands and singing from the same hymn sheet. And the song they are singing is 'No CSG'.

We gather outside Metgasco's office before being taken in for a safety briefing.

(Ironically one of the safety instructions is that cameras are not allowed to be used on the mine site. Surely that is the reason we are all here?)

We are kitted up with hard hats, safety vests and goggles and a couple of the female journos wearing skirts are required to wear bright orange overalls. The person giving the safety presentation wishes us luck and it all seems a bit over the top.

The pollies have been bussed out to the site ahead of us and when we arrive there are a few moments of confusion. We are expecting some sort of presentation about the well and Metgasco's plans, but there is nothing planned. So journos in vests and hard hats start wandering up to politicians in vests and hard hats and start asking questions.

I manage to get a few words with Metgasco CEO Peter Henderson.

He tells us the natural gas industry has operated safely in Australia for over 100 years and that 90% of Queensland's gas now comes from CSG. He says the industry is "already over regulated".

The land we are on is known as the 'Corella 11' lease, the pilot well does not use the controversial fracking process and is producing 200,000 cubic feet of gas per day that is being burned off.

Mr Henderson said the company has negotiated more than 300 different access agreements with landowners, all of which been done on a voluntary basis.

Metgasco is currently licensed for 40-45 wells in the Casino region, which will produce 30 megawatts of power for the Richmond Valley Power Station. But they are planning a pipeline to Ipswich that may supply up to 60 petajoules of gas to South East Queensland. An analysis done by the Kyogle Group Against Gas (GAG) estimates that in order to do that they would need at least another 1000 wells. And a whole lot more if they go ahead with a floating export facility off the coast.

But Mr Henderson said such talk is premature, and trying to estimate the number of wells that they may want on the North Coast would depend on how much gas each one is producing.

He admits that the industry has an image problem that they didn't see coming.

"Twelve months ago we talking about producing a cleaner source of energy, but we've been on the back foot lately and this inquiry is an opportunity for us to get our message out too."

Chair of the Parliamentary Inquiry, Robert Brown from the Shooters and Fishers Party, is on site and tells me the committee will make recommendations to the government, but it is ultimately up to the government to decide how it will regulate the industry.

"The idea of a public inquiry is an evidence-gathering operation so we can listen to the public in an unfettered way, because they are protected by parliamentary privilege... but this is no different to coal mining where there is existing agricultural usage," he said.