A spontaneous blockade has been imposed on coal seam gas company AGL outside the Hunter Valley town of Gloucester.
Local residents, alarmed at the entry of trucks carrying heavy equipment onto a local property where a coal seam gas rig was expected in the near future, scrambled to blockade the trucks.
Lock the Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton said local community groups opposed to coal seam gas development in the Gloucester Valley were mounting the blockade.
Mr Hutton said locals were angry that AGL had refused to halt its drilling program to allow an independent examination of the seismic and water studies in the region.
AGL is licensed for 110 wells in full production in the Gloucester Valley.
An appeal against the project's approval has been heard in the Land & Environment Court but a decision will not be handed down for several months.
"This community has locked the gate on AGL in the past; now it is blocking the gate," Mr Hutton said.
"The Lock the Gate campaign is moving from non-cooperation to active resistance and, if AGL insists on bringing this drilling equipment onto the Gloucester property, they will be blockaded.
More information will be released as it comes to hand.