Energy solution or future pollution? Applying an energy justice perspective to coal seam gas in New South Wales

ABSTRACT

The emergence of an unconventional extractive industry of coal seam gas (CSG) in New South Wales, Australia has caused a range of social tensions. Although the industry has generally received strong support from state-level governments across Australia, an eclectic social movement has arisen in opposition. Critical questions of justice have emerged in these debates about CSG, particularly about the ‘winners' and ‘losers' that would emerge should large-scale CSG extraction be introduced into New South Wales. However, the question of justice in relation to CSG extraction is not altogether so simple. Actors on all sides of CSG development have mobilised the language of justice in their claims about this energy source in sophisticated ways and at different scales. In this paper, we draw upon ‘energy justice’ scholarship to tease out different energy justice dimensions of the CSG debate in New South Wales. We show how there are significant issues that will likely intensify regarding the recognition of different forms of knowledge, the access citizens have to forms of decision-making, and the risks that span geographic and temporal scales. We argue that it is vital to appreciate the significant and interrelated injustices faced by those challenging the industry.

KEYWORDS:

• Coal seam gas
• energy justice
• New South Wales
• unconventional gas
• social movements

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Paul G. Munro http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-0006

Notes

1 CSG is known as an unconventional natural gas in the sense that the gas has not accumulated in easily accessible underground reservoirs, but remains distributed in the cleats of coal seams.

2 The progressive Australian Greens party were successful in winning one seat (Ballina) off the conservative Nationals Party (the government’s junior coalitions partner) with a 20.1% swing, and came close to winning another (Lismore) with a 21.5% swing.

3 For the NGP, Santos plans to develop around 850 gas well across an area of 1000 km², with the majority of the project area lying within the Pilliga State Forest, although some private agricultural land will also be affected (Hendriks, Duus, and Ercan 2016).