ABSTRACT
Unconventional gas mining has attracted media coverage; government, legal and regulatory agency attention; social commentary; and academic scholarship. Reporting, discussion and analysis of unconventional gas mining focusses on four issues those of the environment, human health, property rights and the economy with the role of science underpinning much of the debate. This chapter provides an update on the effectiveness of legal and regulatory tools in the unconventional gas space such as those relating to approvals and monitoring and the nexus between trade law and unconventional gas governance as exemplified by the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The chapter explains about unconventional natural resources before the discussion of the Australian experience of one unconventional natural resource, that of coal seam gas (CSG), and the associated technique of hydraulic fracturing. The chapter analyses the environmental protection, approvals and monitoring; and the economy and trade in relation to the Trans Pacific Partnership and its connection with the environment, particularly CSG mining and fracking.
