PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The federal and New South Wales governments would invest a combined A$3-million to expand research on the social and environmental impacts of the onshore gas industry.

The research would be undertaken by Australia’s national science agency the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Federal Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane said this week that the funding would help CSIRO extend the Gas Industry Social Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA) to focus on the benefits and risks of gas development in New South Wales.

GISERA was founded in 2011 to research environmental, social and economic impacts and the challenges that the onshore gas industry presented in Queensland.

Macfarlane said the expansion of GISERA into New South Wales was a key component of the Australian government’s Domestic Gas Strategy and reinforced the government’s commitment to ensuring policy decisions were based on comprehensive scientific data and expertise.

“The issues associated with the gas industry are complex and sensitive. It is important to understand the regional impacts of gas development based on local data and characteristics,” the Minister said.

“GISERA’s New South Wales-specific research will empower communities to assess and form their own views on the development of onshore gas based on independent scientific information that is relevant to community concerns. GISERA’s governance model is designed to provide for and protect research independence and transparency and has worked very effectively in Queensland.”

New South Wales Industry, Resources and Energy Minister Anthony Roberts said the establishment of GISERA in New South Wales was a response to a recommendation of the New South Wales Chief Scientist’s Final Report.

“Through GISERA we will be able to bring the best CSIRO-backed science to communities where coal-seam-gas development could take place.

“GISERA will ensure that debate on the establishment of coal seam gas in New South Wales is based on science and facts, not misconceptions. This will be independent scientific information that can be presented to the public at large,” Roberts said.

Since its establishment, GISERA has studied the effects of the coal seam gas in Queensland and has made its evidence-based and peer-reviewed findings available to the residents of gas development regions.