Farmers fuming over coal seam gas rush  

The ABC reports that opposition to coal seam gas extraction in Queensland is growing - Farmers fuming over natural gas rush.

Farmers and environmentalists are joining forces on Queensland's Darling Downs to try to stop the rush for natural gas.

The Darling Downs is one of Australia's most productive farming regions, but it is being overrun with drilling rigs as some of the world's biggest energy companies try to bank a new resource bonanza - millions of tonnes of methane from coal.

The farmers are now worried that thousands of gas wells are going to damage their ability to grow food.

"I think the coal seam gas companies are where we were 100 years ago; come in and rape and pillage, grab what you can and leave," said Dalby farmer Ian Hayllor.

"And we're not going to let them do that. They're going to have to be sustainable. If they want to work in our environment, they've got to be sustainable.

"They can come in, take the gas, but they're not going to destroy the environment they're working in. If they can leave it the way they found it, we'll accept them onto our properties."

The anger of farmers is mounting as the gas companies begin a push into some of the more productive cropping areas of the Darling Downs.