John Hobday voiced his concerns along with 200 community members at a meeting at the Bellata Golf Club on Sunday.

According to environmentalist Mr Hobday, there could be serious environmental impacts if coal seam gas was introduced to the area.

Local farmer Doug Cush says coal seam gas extraction poses too big a risk to the farming community and makes co-existence unrealistic.

“If you allow these companies in to bring up the saline water on the coal seam, they’ll put it into ponds and they won’t treat it,” he said.

“In a large storm event that will find its way into the water courses and then get down into the irrigation areas and, look, we’ll just have a disaster.”

Farmers concerned about coal seam gas exploration in the Moree shire gave State Member for Barwon Kevin Humphries a draft of a private members bill, calling for agricultural “exclusion zones”, and asked if he would table it in Parliament.

Seismic survey work for coal seam gas has stopped in the Moree Plains Shire, after council voted unanimously to back a 60-day moratorium.

Councillor John Tramby said he introduced the motion at Thursday’s ordinary general meeting because legal complications were arising.

He said the council was writing to State and Federal Governments as well as seeking legal advice to determine how to act in the best interests of residents and ratepayers.

“What the council was thinking about was trying to better understand our obligations and responsibilities with regard to coal seam gas extraction within the shire,” he said.

“We will not process any further seismic survey work for coal seam gas untill we know the full impacts that this will have on agricultural production in this shire.”