Australia’s peak environment groups have slammed a Federal Court decision which allows mining company Santos to pursue environment groups that were not directly involved in a recent court case against them.

More than 60 farmers blockaded Santos trucks on Saturday and police were called to a state forest near Gunnedah amid disputes over potential water extraction and fracking.

The Independent Planning Commission for the NSW government, who will make the final decision on the Narrabri Gas Field development, have heard hundreds of concerns over the last week about the plans to drill 850 coal seam gas wells in and around the Pilliga State Forest in the northwest of NSW.

A possible connection between the water used by farmers east of the Pilliga State Forest and the proposed Santos Narrabri gas field is being ignored by the NSW Planning Department.

The people of the Northern Rivers of NSW breathed a big sigh of relief when they stopped the unconventional gas industry at Bentley. But the industry didn't stop when it hit resistance – it simply went around us, and left the region in a false bubble of security.

A court case will begin today that could see a halt to Santos’ CSG water treatment facility near the Pilliga State Forest, an internationally renowned ecosystem near Narrabri in north-west NSW.

Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s first cousin today suspended herself 12 metres in the air to interrupt work at Santos’ controversial Leewood coal seam gas wastewater plant. And she was joined by some Lismore supporters.

While people in the northern rivers are still celebrating the region’s new gasfield free status, two Gamilaraay traditional custodians from Moree are battling CSG company Santos using the same techniques that helped win the battle here.

CSG miner Santos has admitted it will be ‘the back-end of the decade’ before it actions its controversial project in the Pilliga State Forest, despite an agreement it signed with the state government last February to fast-track it.

An outback road safety campaign by Queensland police has been given financial assistance by fossil fuel giant Santos in a move that has the potential to erode the independence of the force, writes Hans Lovejoy.