Last month Taree council gave in principle opposition to coal seam gas mining until suitable policy procedures and safeguards are adopted by the State government.

It will also work toward a coal seam gas policy statement, to be guided by State and Federal government guidelines and scientific evidence.

Great Lakes Council shares similar concerns, believing the risk to the region's $140 million tourism industry and $11 million oyster industry outweighs the benefit.

Its general manager Glenn Handford made a submission on behalf of the council to the State government's coal seam gas enquiry.

In it he wrote: "CSG development carries unacceptable uncertainty and long term risks to the Great Lakes and has the real potential to cause unreasonable social and environmental impacts.

"It is our opinion that to date there has been a deficient community engagement process, an uncertainty over the long term and cumulative impacts, an unacceptable risk of failure of waste water management and inability to provide satisfactory independent and peer-reviewed scientific evidence of proven and practical mitigation measures has undermined community and stakeholder confidence in the industry."

Mr Handford said the council had been contacted by a very large and broad cross section of the community regarding coal seam gas.

The Coal Seam Gas Enquiry includes a series of public meetings across the State, with one to be held in Taree on Monday, October 31.