Coal Seam Gas (CSG) activities are rapidly expanding across the Surat, Bowen and Galilee Basins.
It can be a stressful and uncertain time for landholders when faced with proposed CSG exploration or development on their land.
Uncertain issues which continue to be raised in relation to CSG activities include:
- Contamination and depletion of water resources;
- Impacts from CSG on the environment;
- Impacts on health and safety as a result of the activities;
- Land access and landholder rights;
- Impact on land values;
- Cumulative impacts of multiple CSG wells and multiple land uses (i.e. energy/resource activities / infrastructure / agricultural activities);
- Inadequate monitoring or regulation of energy/resource activity; and
- Complex and ever changing legislation.
We are at the forefront of acting on behalf of landholders faced with proposed access to their land and CSG activities.
We have a reputation for taking a proactive and no-nonsense approach to negotiations with CSG companies ensuring the landholders’ rights and interests are protected.
Our staff have a rural background which gives us the unique ability to understand the issues that affect a rural business yet put it into language that landholders can understand.
Conduct and Compensation Agreements
We impose high standards in respect of access and insist upon detailed information from CSG Companies to ensure that the landholder has sufficient information to know and understand the proposed activities to be undertaken on their land.
Critical issues which must be dealt with in any access agreement include:
- Who is undertaking the activities and who bears the liability if and when impacts occur;
- What activities are planned to occur including the duration, intensity, extent and frequency of those activities;
- When will the activities start and when will they finish.
Importantly, any agreement reached needs to set out the rights of the landholder, the obligations of the CSG company and the compensation payable.
Emphasis is placed on landholders’ rights, land access protocols and a minimum of disturbance to the land and the landholders’ business operation.
We also ensures that rigorous monitoring and reporting regimes are put in place by CSG companies to alleviate concerns about the activities being undertaken by the CSG company.
We stay one step ahead and as a result, achieve exceptional outcomes for our clients.
