FULLERTON Cove residents say they’ve been left in the dark about the status of a coal seam gas licence blanketing Newcastle, while senior government figures have publicly pressed the licence-holder to sell back another title over threatened National Party territory.
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AJ Lucas announced in March it was buying into three petroleum exploration licences (PELs) previously held by Dart Energy: 458, which covers the City of Newcastle north to Hawks Nest, 445 over the electorate of Lismore and 456 at Gunnedah.
The licences were sold by Lawndale Pty Ltd, a company controlled by AJ Lucas non-executive director Andrew Purcell, which in turn had bought them from Dart.
The deal was subject to government approval. Months later, no formal request has yet been submitted.
In the interim, National Party MPs, including Deputy Premier Troy Grant, have called on the company to take up its buy-back scheme for PEL 445.
Its owners ‘‘now need to come to the table and give us the opportunity to buy it back’’, Mr Grant insisted shortly before the state election, at which the Nationals narrowly retained the seat of Lismore over the Greens amid a major backlash over coal seam gas.
In contrast, Fullerton Cove residents said they’d had no word from the government of concern about PEL 458 over their homes, and had struggled to find out what was going on after Dart Energy plugged a pilot well and left town.
‘‘No one’s told us anything,’’ Fullerton Cove Action Group spokesman Lindsay Clout said.
‘‘You’d hope they’re trying to buy it back too, but who’d know.’’
Gas exclusion zones over residential areas would likely restrict development in the suburb.
But Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said the government should provide certainty for residents by indicating whether PEL 458 would be bought back and cancelled.
“If coal seam gas is too risky for western Sydney or the Sydney water catchment, then it should also be banned from the Tomago Sands aquifer and from residential areas around Newcastle and Port Stephens,’’ he said.
A spokesman for Resources minister Anthony Roberts, a Liberal MP, said: “All eligible companies have been engaged in discussions and advised they are able to take part in the NSW government’s PEL buy-back scheme, which has been extended to September 30’’.
AJ Lucas did not respond to the Newcastle Herald’s inquiries.