In The Hague this week, Australia worked hard to minimise the legal liability of major emitters and fossil fuel exporters for their contribution to climate change.
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016 I have written for The West Australian, The Saturday Paper, RenewEconomy, Michael West, Boiling Cold and WAtoday.
Alcoa has made last minute changes to its planned expansion of mining in WA's jarrah forest and wants to reenter a previously mined area, potentially triggering a new major federal environmental assessment.
The environmental watchdog is set to remove restrictions on climate pollution in months but is much slower looking into concerns about quarantine and turtles on the Barrow Island nature reserve.
Australian LNG producers are under pressure on emissions and decommissioning, and Santos wants to tackle both problems in one swoop at Bayu Undan, but it needs everyone to play along.
WA hydrogen minister Alannah MacTiernan believes a viable green hydrogen industry will build community support for the State's economy relying less on gas.
Offshore regulator NOPSEMA has had enough of BHP's "limited action" and ordered the decommissioning of three fields, adding to the cleanup bill heading towards Woodside shareholders.
Woodside Petroleum needs massive amounts of land for carbon offsets and the WA Government appears to be laying out an exclusive red carpet for the LNG giant.
Santos and Chevron, through Varanus and Barrow Islands, have a big part to play in the clean up of 1000 oil and gas wells in WA, with about 300 ready to be plugged now.
WA's EPA is now restraining growth in carbon emissions from industry but it and State and Federal Governments need to do more to keep the State attractive to increasingly climate-concerned investors.
