Food v Energy in the "Land of Plenty"
Among the agriculture and rural development issues I have become aware of during my time in Australia is the growing conflict over coal seam gas (CSG). Coal seam gas, you ask? That's what Aussies call the natural gas released by fracking, and Aussies are beginning to debate the practice as hotly as we are in the United States. But the Australian context for this debate--which has evolved into outright conflict in several locales--is different in various regards to what it is in the U.S., including the legal schemes for regulating the practice and the extent to which farmers and others in rural areas can prevent it. This February 2012 piece by Bond University law professor Tina Hunter summarizes several of the issues, including who has the power to regulate or prevent the practice. In short--it isn't the individual land owners. Hunter's headline speaks volumes, "Food security v energy security: land use conflict and the law. " She writes: The d...