The Queensland and federal governments have been embarrassed by a UNESCO report expressing 'extreme concern' about liquid natural gas developments on Curtis Island and in Gladstone harbour.

UNESCO indicated they considered these a potential threat to the world heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef since the harbour is part of this world heritage area and it called for a comprehensive strategic assessment of the reef, including a long-term plan for sustainable development.

This has not occurred in Australia since the late nineties when UNESCO raised threats to the world heritage values of Kakadu after several damaging toxic spills from the nearby Ranger uranium mine.

President of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Drew Hutton, said the UN was far more sensitive to the threats and showed far higher concern than the Bligh government which cared only about the royalties that would come its way from coal and coal seam gas developments.

Statements released today by the industry body for coal seam gas, APPEA, on the groundwater impacts of CSG are not an accurate representation of an original report.

Spokesperson Ross Dunne stated the study commissioned by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) shows the coal seam gas industry will have little impact on either the Great Artesian Basin or aquifers relied on by agriculture.

Spokesperson for the Lock the Gate Alliance, Drew Hutton, said this was a willful misinterpretation of the original study which was a desktop study based on data from two years ago.

With a fourth dugong found dead, washed up on a beach in Gladstone harbour, environmentalists are warning of an ecological disaster in this section of the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area.

Four dead dugong, three dolphins and more than 40 turtles have all been found since May washed up around the harbour.

Spokesperson for Friends of the Earth and president of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Drew Hutton, said he had witnessed first-hand much of the destruction which has already begun in Gladstone harbour as a result of construction of the LNG facilities.

Today's announcement by the NSW government of a moratorium on the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in coal seam gas extraction exposes the charade by the Bligh government that they are pursuing the public interest with their policy on this industry.

NSW Resources and Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, announced today a moratorium on the controversial "fracking" process put in place until year's end.

The government will also introduce tougher restrictions on the use of groundwater, and new public consultation guidelines.

Lock the Gate Alliance president, Drew Hutton, said that, while the NSW government's policy was still well short of what was needed, it did show up the inadequacies of the Bligh government's policy.

Santos' dream run in the coal seam gas industry is about to hit a serious road block in its $924 million takeover of Eastern Star Gas.

Santos has largely flown under the radar in its large Queensland operation because it has been located in the far west where there are large properties mostly given over to grazing.  They have also worked in this area for some time and have bought quite a few properties.

However, with the purchase of Eastern Star tenements in north and central New South Wales, Santos will find itself facing significant challenges.