AGL's coal seam gas operations near Gloucester. Credit:Ryan Osland Delays to the change "will compromise AGL's financial investment decision for Stage 1 of the Gloucester Gas Project", Mr Paterson wrote on 20 January 2014. Despite raising the issue, Groundswell Gloucester and its lawyers, EDO NSW, were not consulted before a final decision was made and a short public exhibition of the proposed amendment that shifted the three-kilometre measure to the geometric centre of the Waukivory set, hence avoiding a more onerous EIS by AGL. "Clearly this is pressure on behalf of AGL," Sue Higginson, principal solicitor with EDO NSW, said, adding that the original provision "was intended to have cumulative impacts if you have a number of wells approved". "This is law made on the run to accommodate the proponent's needs," Ms Higginson said.

The Mining SEPP provision was amended in July 2014 and then scrapped when the Baird government released the NSW Gas Plan in December 2014. Project delays The urgency for the change may have been misjudged. AGL has repeatedly pushed back its decision on the project after a string of production and regulatory issues, with its chief executive Andy Vesey telling Fairfax Media on Wednesday a final investment verdict is at least a year away. This is law made on the run to accommodate the proponent's needs Sue Higginson, Principal Solicitor, EDO NSW

The Greens and Labor, meanwhile, are planning to introduce a bill into the Legislative Council on Thursday to impose a moratorium on CSG or other unconventional gas prospecting or mining. Existing production leases, such as AGL's Camden operations, are excluded. "The (NSW) Parliament has a chance to solve the quagmire of coal seam gas by backing the Greens' bill to ban CSG throughout NSW, and I am pleased that Labor has put up constructive amendments to this bill," the Greens mining spokesman, Jeremy Buckingham, said. AGL did not respond to Fairfax Media's questions about the new details revealed in the correspondence – much of which contained redacted material that the EDO is still seeking to be released. During the December 2013-June 2014 period, AGL donated $33,000 to the Liberal and National Parties at state and federal levels. It kept within the $11,000 annual limits on state donations to both ruling parties. "Political donations have no impact on the department's development of any policy proposal," a spokesman for the Department of Planning said.

'Transparent planning' Rob Stokes, who replaced Pru Goward as Planning Minister after the March 2015 elections, said the government is seeking to amend the Mining SEPP to promote equal weighting to environmental, social and economic considerations. "It is vital that the community and industry have confidence in the planning system," Mr Stokes said. "Transparent planning processes lead to better outcomes." Labor's Adam Searle, the Opposition's energy spokesman, said the five-wells amendment was "another example of the Baird government throwing consultation, process and accountability out the window." "Both the government and AGL knew their plans for fracking would face strong opposition – but rather than front up to the Gloucester community, the government is bending the rules as and when it feels like it," Mr Searle said.

"By redefining the centre of this CSG site, the Baird government has increased Gloucester's exposure to fracking," he said. 'Ambiguity' A spokesman for Energy Minister Anthony Roberts said his department had sought to clarify the interpretation of the distance clause: "It noted there was ambiguity in relation to the clause and it was not possible to come to a certain view on how the three-kilometre [criterion] was to be measured." "Through the NSW Gas Plan we are implementing all of the recommendations made by the independent NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer to ensure we have a world's best practice regulatory system," the spokesman said. A separate document dated 22 May 2014 from the Department of Planning said Minister Goward had requested it draft a letter to Chief Scientist Mary O'Kane "seeking her consideration of the five-wells issue as part of her review of coal seam gas".

The document noted the Chief Scientist "is happy to consider this issue" and that a separate letter "is currently being drafted to formalise the agreement". However, a spokesman for the Chief Scientist, said that letter was never sent. "Neither the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, nor her office, received a formal written request from the Department of Planning & Environment to consider this issue as part of the independent review of CSG activities," the spokesman said. "[Professor O'Kane] met with the Minister for Planning on 26 May 2014 to discuss the matter. It was decided there was no need for a scientific study," the spokesman said, adding that the Chief Scientist's review of the CSG industry did not comment on the five-wells rule.