Gomeroi advocates say they'll continue to push against the Narrabri Gas Project after the National Native Title Tribunal ruled gas company Santos can lease Gomeroi cultural lands in the Pilliga Forest for drilling.

In 2023, Gomeroi applicants lodged an appeal against a decision in 2022 to approve the lease for the Narrabri Gas Project.

However, the tribunal said in its final determination on Monday 19 May that the project benefits outweigh likely cultural impacts.

"The panel placed significant weight on energy reliability to find that the Project offers a net public benefit," the 127-page document said.

"Based on the evidence before it, the panel is satisfied the negative effects of the Project can be mitigated by appropriate, comprehensive conditions."

The tribunal imposed 23 conditions on the approval, including that no work take place within 500 metres of the Yarrie Lake or Bohena Creek without Gomeroi consent.

Most of the lands targeted by Santos are subject to a registered native title claim by Gomeroi people, which meant Santos either needed an agreement with them to progress its project, or overriding approval from the tribunal.

The area under native title claim by the Gomeroi people. See full map here.

Coonamble Gomeroi woman Teresa Stanton, who has taken part in a long-running local campaign against the project, said the decision "devastated" traditional owners.

"We'll keep fighting," she said.

Another Gomeroi woman, Coonabarabran's Suellyn Tighe, said "we will grieve and then we will regroup."

"It's a cultural tether to Country, a bit like an umbilical cord," Ms Tighe said

"Lots of our cultural stories are linked to there. It's linked to the geography itself. Our stories are also linked to the food sources that are available there. It's linked to ceremony.

"The Gomeroi nation is part of the public and we have expressed very strongly that no, we don't want this. And yet, we seem to be constantly ignored."

She said native title rules should be reviewed, which she said create an "uneven playing field" against traditional owners in tribunal disputes like those with Santos.

Under the conditions, Santos will also fund a ranger program to monitor and manage climate change effects in the Pilliga, including in the project area.

The program would run throughout the lifetime of the project.

However, Ms Tighe said the program is "paternalism wrapped up in a pretty bow".

"That's telling us and mandating how we can interact with the land and with our culture, rather than letting us conduct cultural practices in the way that has been done for millennia," Ms Tighe said.

Suellyn Tighe at the fire tower in the Pilliga Scrub. (IMAGE: supplied)

In 2020, NSW Independent Planning Commission greenlit the project proposal for 850 coal seam gas wells in the Pilliga, which they are promising will supply half of NSW's gas needs.

The company still awaits approval from the federal government for a 30-kilometre pipeline to connect the Narrabri Gas Project to the Hunter Gas Pipeline.

Opponents have also expressed concern over potential groundwater contamination from fracking, including Coonamble Mayor Dan Keady.

Coonamble shire communities are reliant on the underground Surat Basin for almost all their water needs.

"We don't know how these things will pan out unless they've been in the ground for 40, 50 years or more," Cr Keady said.

He hopes the decision will regenerate local interest in the matter, which he felt has waned in recent years.

In a statement to the ABC, Santos said it welcomed the decision.

"Narrabri gas appraisal wells are already supplying the Wilga Park Power Station in north-west New South Wales, generating enough electricity to power 32,000 homes," the statement said.