THE multi-billion dollar potential of coal seam gas (CSG) has created a modern-day goldrush that is outstripping the pace of regulation, says environmentalist Tim Flannery.
After travelling the length of the Great Divide during a two-month documentary film shoot, Professor Flannery believes some CSG companies are pushing the boundaries of community acceptance to the point that they are endangering their "social licence to operate".
As chief commissioner of the Climate Commission, Professor Flannery sees potential for CSG as a more climate-friendly source of energy than coal - although he says this needs further research.
But CSG can't come at the expense of current landholders, he says.
The only way forward, he thinks, "is better regulation based on good scientific analysis". And once created, such regulation should be rigorously enforced.
The challenge is to get such regulation developed and enshrined at a time when the goldrush pace of change has already overwhelmed the State and Commonwealth legislative process.
Professor Flannery suggests that to accelerate and inform the political process, landholders should form a "community of interest" with environmentalists.
"I don't know that anyone has a quick fix, but I think for that community of interest to have its voice heard is an important first step."
The idea will hit some ideological barriers, he admits.
"I think there is a group terrified of any sort of alliance between environmentalists, like myself, and country people. They will take any opportunity to make sure that doesn't happen."
Professor Flannery hit an unexpected hurdle to his idea of a landholder-environmentalist CSG alliance last week, when The Australian newspaper used a speech he made to the NSW Minerals Council to create a headline, "Tim Flannery backs coal seam gas and mining industry".
"That article headline was beyond belief to me - I've no idea where they got that from," Professor Flannery told Rural Press.
"It bore no relationship whatever to what I said.
"The cascade of emails I've had consequently from really concerned people, some I met in regional Australia and with who I had a really good understanding - it's been incredible."
Professor Flannery posted a clarification of his position on CSG on the Climate Commission website, and employed a lawyer to send a letter to The Australian asking that the article be changed or retracted. Although the article has been altered, the headline remains intact on The Australian's website.
He encountered first-hand the effects on CSG on landholders during a two-month documentary shoot earlier this year with comedian and social commentator John Doyle.
The clash between the CSG industry and landholders is particularly acute on Queensland's Darling Downs, where hundreds of billions of dollars of mining investment are being pumped into energy resource extraction.
"Quite a few farmers had sorry stories to tell of practices that made it practically impossible for them to continue with their business," he said.
On the Downs, he was told of a company that had gained the trust of a respected landholder and operated without fault on his property. The landholder became advocate for the company in the district; but on other farms, "practices changed dramatically".
"We talked to one family who ran a grazing business. Because of the problems they'd had with fences being knocked over and gates left open and trenches in paddocks, they had to virtually destock their property.
"There was nothing in their contracts that gave them any point of redress. You can understand why people are furious in rural Australia."
As CSG joins climate change and structural change among the issues pressuring regional Australians, Professor Flannery argues there has "never been a more important moment for greater understanding" between landholders and the environmental movement, which is grappling with the same issues.
"I appeal to people in rural Australia to open their minds to the possibility that we could work together."
Meanwhile, he will be urging more research into CSG's effects on groundwater and climate.
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