A giant inflatable whale has dominated a Greens protest in Sydney's east against gas exploration off the NSW coast.
About 60 people turned out at Bondi Beach today to collect signatures against plans by a local energy company to search for coal deposits under a 6,000 square-kilometre area off the NSW coast.
The coal can be converted into gas using an experimental method called underground coal gasification (UCG).
NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, who both live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, would be urged to oppose the mining.
Ms Rhiannon said UCG would impact local and global environments.
"The method they use is that they drill into the coal and set fire to it and they extract the gas off it," Ms Rhiannon told AAP.
"As far as we can ascertain it hasn't been undertaken offshore."
She said UCG produced a high level of greenhouse gas emissions and would damage marine life.
"In terms of the local impact, one of our big concerns is for whale migration," Ms Rhiannon said.
"There's also then the issue of pollution and disturbance. The sea bed is made up of a large amount of sediment.
"When that's disturbed the clarity of the water decreases ... this reduces the penetration of the sunlight and that then impacts on the cycles of the marine life."
Attempts to contact Energie Future have been unsuccessful.
