WA Premier Roger Cook's core "Made in WA" election policy will be tested by his use of local content provisions to keep Chevron's WA engineers working in WA.
US company Alcoa mines bauxite in WA's south west where there are concerns about the effect on Perth's water supply and if the jarrah forest can be rehabilitated. Three refineries produce alumina for export.
The US miner expects WA government approval within 12 months to destroy 75 square kilometres of jarrah forest to enable its "number one" lever to boost profits.
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.
Alcoa will trial technology at its Wagerup alumina refinery to produce steam by renewable-powered compression instead of gas-fired heat that promises a 70% per cent emissions reduction.
If South32’s low profile coal-burning Worsley Alumina operated like Alcoa’s facilities 1.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year would be avoided: the same as Alcoa's Wagerup refinery.
WA's industrial greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by four products and a handful of companies, including a few that have managed to keep a low profile in the climate wars.
