Synergy plans $4.5b wind, solar and battery farm in WA's Wheatbelt
The state-owned utility needs to replace the generation capacity it will lose by closing down all its coal-fired power stations over the next four years.
Reece Whitby served as the WA minister for environment and climate action from 2021 to 2025.
The $13 billion company will just get a warning letter for secretly creating "an unacceptable risk to drinking water quality."
The Liberals predict by 2027 WA's south-west power system will be on the verge of collapse but Labor is confident that batteries, wind and gas will come to the rescue.
Concerns about possible damage to adjacent World Heritage-listed rock art from the plant's emissions did not sway environment minister Reece Whitby.
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."
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.
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