GREENS MP Jeremy Bucking-ham says the NSW government has failed in 18 months to keep its pre-election promise to protect farmland and water from the impacts of mining and coal seam gas (CSG) and its strategic regional land use policy (SRLUP), tipped to be released later this week, will miss the mark.
Mr Buckingham has a radical solution – to start afresh with a Responsible Mining Bill that will create what he calls “no go zones” for mining on productive agricultural land.
It will also ban exploration, mining and gas production within two kilometres of rivers, aquifers and drinking water catchments.
Moreover, if Mr Buckingham succeeds in his ambitious aim of getting the bill through Parliament, power over mining and CSG development will be returned to communities with local councils able to veto mining and gas activities through local environmental plans (LEPs).
“I have no hope for the SRLUP,” Mr Buckingham told The Land.
“The rumblings from stakeholders are it is just going to deliver the green light to coal mines and CSG, it won’t deliver on the government’s key promise.
The Land
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