RESIDENTS in the Alex Avenue land release precinct were alarmed by the revelation last week that the AGL energy company could one day drill for gas on their properties.
After sifting through hundreds of pages of planning regulations related to the land release, Schofields resident Brian Mackenzie discovered four sentences that indicated the gas exploration licence.
The Alex Avenue precinct and much of the Sydney Basin sit on a deep coal seam. This is too deep to mine, but AGL has held a licence to drill for coal seam gas in the Schofields and Riverstone area since the early 1990s.
The precinct was rezoned in May to provide 15,500 new houses for 45,000 people over the next 10 years.
Current residents have sought assurances that they will not be living near a gas plant.
"The response was that the precinct plan does not preclude the drilling licence at all," Mr Mackenzie told the Sun. "You would think that drilling in an area that's urbanised wouldn't make much sense . . . but these organisations are arrogant enough to do as they like. If they do anything, it will be a process called 'open fracking'. When we started looking in to that stuff we were absolutely amazed with the problems it can cause."
AGL spokesman Nathan Vass confirmed that the company would hold on to its licence to drill in the precinct, but tried to calm residents' concerns.
"There are very strict regulations on this and the bottom line is we are not doing anything there at the moment," he said. "If we want to do anything in the future, the government has very strict regulations.
"At the very minimum, we can't drill within 200 metres of a home."
Email a friend