Alcoa to own just 5pc of WA plant to bust China’s dominance of gallium supply
The US miner under fire for its environmental performance in WA sees the gallium plant solidifying the importance of its Wagerup alumina refinery.
Concerns about possible damage to adjacent World Heritage-listed rock art from the plant's emissions did not sway environment minister Reece Whitby.
Australia's largest export has a problem - its low grade and high impurities make it unsuitable for producing low emissions iron and steel with current technology
The WA environment minister wanted to tackle bureaucrats "at the desk doing the same thing for 15 years, telling people why something can't be done."
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.
Boiling Cold returns - and it needs your support
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.
All the info and a bit of comment on WA energy, industry and climate every Friday