INPEX has spilled oil into Darwin Harbour, exposed offshore workers to dangerous mercury, and been prosecuted for under-reporting toxic emissions by more than 100-fold, all in the past 12 months.
A letter from the US miner raised hope that the jarrah forest inland from Perth would escape its strip mining for bauxite, but Alcoa is keeping its options open.
Fossil fuel developments may find it harder to get taxpayer funds in Australia after a "benchmark" case forced disclosure of environmental harm, lawyers say.
