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.

A meeting of 85 farmers at the little town on Gurley in northern NSW earlier this week saw the beginning of the first direct confrontation between coal seam gas companies and farmers in New South Wales.

The company Planet Gas has, in the last few days, sent letters to farmers on the beautiful black soil country south of Moree demanding entry to their properties to explore for coal seam gas  and threatening that landholders would be taken to arbitration if they had not negotiated an agreement within 28 days.

However, in an ominous sign for the company, the meeting at Gurley unanimously decided to lock their gates and refuse to negotiate with Planet Gas.

On Friday farmers in the Bellata area, near Moree in north-west NSW, received a letter in the mail from coal seam gas companies Leichardt Resources and Planet Gas, formally serving notice that they would be seeking an access agreement to drill for coal seam gas on their land.

The last line of the letter states that "If, after 28 days of submission of this initial notice an agreement cannot be reached, an arbitrator will be appointed to resolve any issues relating to access after this period".

President of the Lock the Gate Alliance Drew Hutton said this would provoke the opening of the non-cooperation campaign in NSW in which farmers locked their gates and refused to negotiate access to mining companies.