Update: Monday June 2 - Suspension Remains In Place

The Office of Coal Seam Gas have released a statement. It came out on the 30th of May. It only took me six phone calls to get some action from their media department.

The hardware comes down at Bentley, but watchers stay focussed.

Photos via Will Bulmer.

UPDATE: MONDAY JUNE 2, 2014.

Finally I heard back from the Office of Coal Seam Gas.

Short Answer: Suspension to remain in place, for at least the next seven days.

The timeline is:

On May 14, 2014, the Office of Coal Seam Gas (OCSG) put a hold on Metgasco's licence to drill their Rosella well, at Bentley, near Casino in northern NSW.

The very next day Metgasco wrote to the OCSG to ask for this decision to be reviewed.

On Friday May 30 the OCSG released this in a statement: "At this stage, the decision of 14 May 2014 still stands, given the company has not effectively and genuinely engaged with the community or put in place an appropriate community consultation plan in accordance with the Guideline for community consultation requirements for exploration ("the Guideline")."

So those keeping a watch on the fields of Bentley can breathe easy for a week.

The next stage occurs at the end of this week, with the statement from the OCSG saying: "OCSG has informed Metgasco of this and given the company a further 7 days to make any further submissions.

A final decision on review will be made following full consideration of any further submissions."

So Metgasco will be ramming in further documentation this week, and the OCSG will be making a final decision, presumably in the two weeks after that.

On a personal note I would add that the last paragraph of the first section said this: "The OCSG has maintained an ongoing dialogue with Metgasco in relation to this matter."

More than they bloody did with me, tell ya' that for nuthin'.

The full statement can be read here: Statement from the OCSG.

UPDATE: FRIDAY MAY 23.

In the aftermath of the Bentley victory I have kept in contact with Ruth, the host of the Bentley Facebook page and kept trying to find out what Metgasco were up to.

I believe they are basically history as regarding the Rosella well, but it behooves everyone involved in the protest at Bentley to stay on watch.

Metgasco released a statement this day, and I went across to their website and had a read.

I had to put asbestos eyeglasses on to disperse the volcanic heat that the man in the photo above could not contain.

He is hopping bloody mad, and thus now he knows how the protesters felt at the start of all this.

Okay, so what's he got to say.

First this:

"The suspension, without notice or justification, represents an extraordinary breach of process by the New South Wales Office of Coal Seam Gas (OCSG)."

Actually no, Len, and I'll explain later why.

Then he goes on to add:

"According to the media release from the Minister, the suspension of Metgasco’s exploration drilling activity was determined 'on the grounds that it did not fulfil(sic) a condition of its exploration licence, namely to undertake genuine and effective consultation with the community as required'."

Now I still cannot understand why Metgasco keep pushing this line, why they keep saying that they fulfilled every guideline for consultation.

In the original story below I showed them where they were wrong about this.

The Office of Coal Seam Gas website has clearly defined community consultation guidelines.

Most germane is the publishing in a local paper of the plans for drilling, which Metgasco did, but the next bit is to allow concerned stakeholders to make submissions.

This is the bone of contention.

Charlie Wilkinson, Councillor Simon Clough, and just about every other concerned stakeholder, dispute that this part of the process ever occurred.

If you wish to read through the process as outlined on the OCSG website, it can be found here: http://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/426582/Public-Comment-Process-Document.pdf

Then the statement goes on to say:

"Further, that the basis for the suspension was based on the claim that “fundamental concerns have been expressed by members of the effected community about the way Metgasco has characterised its activities”.

This refers to the oh-so-late-in-the-process discovery that Metgasco were planning to drill for tight sands, not just conventional.

Now again I shake my head in wonder at the chairman's statement, tight sand drilling is clearly another thing altogether, involving chemicals, and so I struggle to understand why Metgasco are claiming they are being treated unfairly here.

They are required to say what they are doing, clearly, in a local paper.

This they didn't do - that is, they said they were going to drill, but not for tight sands.

Then Mr Gill goes on to give this extraordinary spray:

"Instead there has been no process, no opportunity for explanation or correction; rather a summary denial of natural justice."

Well Len, now you know how the local landholders and protesters feel.

When people with land in the area suddenly discover that there is a well going down on an adjacent property, a well that is planning to pump unknown quantities of unknown chemicals into the water table, does that not sound a bit like "denial of natural justice" as well?

So are Metgasco planning to quit?

Well, I still can't find out.

I spoke with the Metgasco's media rep and asked: "Has Metgasco given up on the Bentley drilling? Or will they be back with an updated approval?"

The answer: "No one knows."

The rep said that the drilling licence suspension was still before the minister, and thus until the minister, in this case Anthony Roberts, makes a decision, then Metgasco will be kept on hold.

The chairman's statement says that Metgasco made a new submission to the OCSG requesting a review of the licence suspension.

Stating:

"The OCSG undertook to review our submission and to consider removing the suspension with a response to be provided by Monday 19 May. On Monday 19 May, we were advised that their review was not yet complete and the OCSG was unable to confirm when the review would be complete."

And so there for the moment matters rest.

I guess the summary is that Metgasco are desperate to drill, and will keep pressing the 'urgent' button with the minister and the OCSG.

But with each day that passes the window of financial opportunity closes a little tighter.

I will keep tabs on all the players above, and if there is any sceric, any tiny sniff that Metgasco will be back, you will read about it here.

Until then it seems prudent for those closest to keep steady watch on the fields of Bentley.

Original story.

Protesters against Coal Seam Gas (CSG) drilling by energy concern Metgasco were whooping with victory today following the announcement by NSW Energy minister Anthony Roberts that Metgasco's permission to drill had been put on hold.

However, the victory is tempered by the fear that Metgasco will be back.

The problem that Metgasco have is tied up with Condition 8 of their Petroleum Exploration Licence relating to tenement 16.

Bentley is a rural setting outside Casino in Northern NSW, and Metgasco have apparently breached the "community consultation" terms of this licence.

So I went to find out what the problem was.

After long searching, with no help from Metgasco, I might add, I found the relevant document on the NSW government website, relating to CSG. (http://www.csg.nsw.gov.au).

Within this document it outlines the community consultation process, and it in part shows why the neighbouring landholders are a little upset.

The process is outlined as follows.

The drilling concern, in this case Metgasco, are required to follow these steps.

1. Lodge an application for an exploration licence with the state government.

2. They are then required to notify the community in at least one major metropolitan newspaper and at least one local paper.

In this case of Bentley, that means the Northern Star out of Lismore, which also has a Casino office.

3. (And here we get to the crucial bit that has caused Metgasco so much trouble.)

Submissions will be received within 28 days of publication mentioned in the step above.

This step just didn't happen.

There is a lot of guff on the CSG website about "complete transparency" and "community consultation" and the like, but in this case, Metgasco's efforts to consult with the community fell woefully short.

It came down to a brochure shoved through a handful of letter boxes.

I spoke with Lismore City Councillor and member of CSG Free Northern Rivers, Simon Clough, and he said, with some acerbity, "putting some brochures in some people's letterboxes is hardly community consultation".

Further to this, I spoke with another protester, Charlie Wilkinson, a neighbouring landholder.

His story confirms that of Councillor Clough.

"It really began for us with wild rumours circulating in the district," said Charlie.

"We knew something was going on, but not what."

"In the end the first concrete information we got was when a glossy brochure arrived in our letter box."

But even here Wilkinson was less than happy, nowhere in this brochure was the above community consultation document outlined, it was simply a load of spin saying how great landholders found it to have a CSG well on their property.

Wilkinson was then invited with others to a meeting, and again came away less than happy.

He said, "We went to a meeting in Casino, in April, that would have been."

"But really most of the people there weren't local stakeholders, but came from other places, not seemingly that connected to the events of Bentley".

"What's more they kind of spoke down to us like children, so we came away from that pretty unhappy."

Wilkinson then went on to say that the next consultation of any sort only occurred last week, when he got a phone call asking if he could round up concerned stakeholders and get them to attend a meeting.

Wilkinson complied, and he and about thirty others attended a meeting.

Present was Jock Laurie, former head of the National Farmer's Federation, and now Commissioner for Land and Water in NSW.

Charlie Wilkinson went on, "I have great respect for Laurie, he had a big job and a difficult task in this case of Bentley, but we gave him a letter outlining our concerns and he took it away and presented it the Premier, and the next we we know is that this has happened and the state government has suspended their exploration licence."

Wilkinson said in closing, "So we're happy at the moment, but will stay on watch. We know that this fight is not over."

A statement from the office of Minister Roberts says Metgasco had their licence suspended on the grounds that it: "did not fulfill a condition of its exploration licence,

namely to undertake genuine and effective consultation with the community as

required."

The protesters are therefore vindicated in their view that a few brochures shoved through letterboxes hardly constitutes "genuine and effective" community consultation.

Metgasco for their part said this on their website:

"Metgasco is confident that it is in compliance with the PEL 16 licence conditions and is seeking to demonstrate this to government.

The Company is in the process of mobilising a drilling rig to drill the Rosella well and therefore this advice from the NSW government comes at a very critical time. Accordingly, the Company has sought and obtained a 48 hour ASX trading halt pending the opportunity to meet and discuss the matter with government so that there is a clearer understanding of the outlook for rig mobilisation."

So Metgasco are planning to be back, but as this article has outlined, if they are to fulfill the requirements they will have to go back to the start of the process and publish their plans and allow 28 days for stakeholder submissions.

And as we have seen and heard, the protesters are planning to stay on watch.

If you are a Metgasco shareholder, be afraid, be very afraid.