Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the US aluminium specialist could take strong action to boost profits from alumina, most of which it refines in Western Australia.
South West WA's power grid reached a record 91 per cent peak renewable energy share in December - driven by 1,225 MW of new battery storage - while wholesale power prices fell 13 per cent and carbon emissions dropped 15 per cent as coal and gas generation declined.
The green light for Black Mountain Energy comes just months after Federal experts said its environmental risk assessment was "limited and disjointed" and reached "largely unsupported" conclusions.
The $2.3 billion-plus decommissioning on a WA nature reserve will be part-funded by the Federal and WA governments returning about half the royalties they received over six decades.
The company that thinks a damaging oil spill from its planned drilling near Scott Reef is "only a mere theoretical possibility" weeks ago accidentally released a cocktail of hydrocarbons, chemicals and water into the Indian Ocean.
There are serious concerns about lifting equipment and procedures on McDermott's offshore construction vessel DLV 2000 which is decommissioning the Stybarrow oil field near Ningaloo Reef.
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.
