Toongabbie community members are working to secure their local area as a 'no go zone' against the potential expansion of coal mining in the Latrobe Valley.
The push comes after a groundswell of community concern erupted over a mineral exploration license application was filed for farmland in the Toongabbie and Glengarry area, by a company interested in tapping the region's brown coal resources.
The application was lodged for 148 square kilometres late last month by Commonwealth Mining Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Lakes Oil NL, who are currently engaged in advanced gas explorations in central Gippsland, south of Sale.
A spokesperson for the Department of Primary Industries' earth resources sector said it had received "multiple" objections to the application via individual emails, campaign emails and letters.
Toongabbie Township Planning and Development Group chairperson Tracey Anton hoped to create an 'action group' which would endeavour to create certainty for local landholders and residents in an area which has been subject to exploration licenses in the past.
"We want to know in 20 years time' what the plans for that potential (coal) resource are; we want certainty, we don't want something to hang over our head constantly," Ms Anton said.
A community information session will be held tonight at the Toongabbie Mechanics Institute at 7.30pm, where Ms Anton said she hoped an action group would be formed.
She said she envisaged the group would fight to amend legislation to exploration license procedures, such as lengthening objection window periods and the moratorium period between application submissions.
State Member for Morwell Russell Northe said he had relayed community concerns to State Energy and Resources Minister Micheal O'Brien, and while he could not "get involved in the stringent application process", he questioned the need for further expansion of brown coal exploitation.
"We have a vast amount of brown coal resources that we are exploiting already, why would you want to expand?" Mr Northe said.
He said there was "considerable misinformation" circulating in the community regarding mineral exploration licenses, a sentiment echoed by the DPI spokesperson.
"One would hope all the relevant information is on the table (at tonight's meeting), so community members are not only aware of the company's intentions, but understanding how the multiple processes of the application would proceed," Mr Northe said.
The DPI spokesperson said as there was no Crown Land within the tenement (which would be subject to native title rights), the DPI was likely to consider whether to grant the application approval before Christmas.
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