The Senate has passed legislation requiring federal environmental assessment of the impact of CSG wells

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

The Coalition has voted in favour of laws that will prevent Tony Abbott from implementing his stated policy of handing back environmental assessments of coal seam gas (CSG) wells to state governments.

The Senate has passed legislation adding the impact of CSG wells on water to a list of issues requiring federal environmental assessment, with the Coalition voting for it.

The Coalition's policy is to hand back environmental decision-making – including over CSG – to the states. It tried to change the legislation passed on Tuesday and then to defer the vote, but after failing on both counts, supported it.

Rob Millhouse, vice-president of policy at gas company BG Group, told Guardian Australia the legislation would definitely mean new CSG projects would have to pass two sets of environmental assessments – federal and state – and said this would "add years" to the process.

He also said it was "unprecedented" for an issue to be added as a trigger for the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act only in terms of its impact on one industry, as is the case with the CSG-only water trigger.

Independent Tony Windsor, who pushed for the CSG restrictions, and the Greens leader, Senator Christine Milne, were celebrating the added scrutiny for the CSG industry.

"Federal oversight based on independent science will help protect Australia's most productive farmland from potential damage and encourage mining companies to pursue projects with lower risk profiles," Windsor said.

Coalition resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane had said that the new law "contains nothing to prevent" the Coalition from proceeding with its stated policy intention to hand over environmental assessments to the states, including for gas wells, under strict standards set by the commonwealth.

But Millhouse said this was not the case and the Coalition attempted to amend the bill and then to prevent a vote before eventually voting in favour of it. And environmental lawyers also dispute Macfarlane's assessment.

The Greens failed in an attempt to add to the legislation a provision allowing a farmer to "lock the gate" against CSG projects – with both Labor and the Coalition voting against the amendment. Giving farmers the right of consent over projects is also Coalition policy.

"All the big parties voted against a Greens amendment to allow farmers to lock the gate. Clearly the Nationals are no longer the representatives of people in the bush," said Greens environment spokeswoman senator Larissa Waters.

The Greens also failed in an attempt to similarly "Abbott-proof" the entire EPBC Act by adding a provision to prevent the handing back to the states of any environmental decision-making.

And the cabinet did not support a push by the environment minister, Tony Burke, to add national parks as a "trigger" for federal approvals, after recent moves by state governments to allow cattle grazing and recreational shooting in parks.

With the CSG industry arguing Australia is facing a critical domestic gas shortage, Macfarlane is pressing NSW to approve more CSG wells because of a looming "gas crisis" in the state.

He has attacked the NSW government for broad restrictions that have caused a virtual investment freeze on new CSG projects and told a conference this week that NSW "better get busy. They're facing an enormous crisis. The pressure we can put on is to make sure the O'Farrell government understands that it's likely to be in power when Sydney runs out of gas," Macfarlane said in a recent speech.

The coal seam gas industry has been fighting back since escalating community concerns over the environmental impact of CSG prompted the federal government to give in to Windsor's lobbying for a water trigger. It also prompted the NSW Liberal government to impose a 2km exclusion zone around residential areas and bans on CSG wells in the Hunter Valley, which is prime agricultural land.

The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the passage of the CSG laws.

"Mining companies inject dangerous chemicals into aquifers to extract coal seam gas, so it is appropriate that this environmentally damaging activity be covered by our national environment law," a spokesman said.

CSG is likely to be a big issue in several NSW seats, in particular New England, where Windsor is being challenged by the high-profile Nationals candidate Barnaby Joyce.