🗡️ Who murdered the Murujuga rock art science?
Special Cluedo™️ edition 🔍 Was it Mr Cook or Prof Smith?
WA has been governed by Labor since 2017, led first by Mark McGowan and then Roger Cook.
Chevron has been denied a two-year free pass on Gorgon greenhouse gas emissions by the WA Government that could cost it more than $80 million, and there may be a future bill for Wheatstone as well.
As Environment Minister in 2006 Mark McGowan led the way to ensure gas projects offset some of their emissions. Now as Premier he may need to choose between climate credibility and the interests of WA's most powerful man.
The WA Government expects no new coal or gas-fired power generation in the South-West will ever be built but those looking for clues to the future of Collie’s existing coal-fired power stations will have to wait for a plan to be released later this year.
New WA projects will need to publish plans for net-zero emissions by 2050 as the WA Environmental Protection Authority ends a year-long battle with LNG industry.
Plans to manage excessive midday solar power in WA's South-West may allow solar and batteries to displace coal and gas in the long-term.
Pilbara resource projects can access more competitive power and the South-West grid more easily add batteries and standalone power systems after law changes last week.
The iron ore price that had held up in the economic chaos of 2020 is beginning to fall, and the worst case of $US50 a tonne would shatter government revenue just when it is needed the most.
The WA Government wants to lure industry to WA with cheap gas just as the oil price plunge puts further supply from Woodside's Scarborough and Browse projects in doubt.
Any large project in WA will now need to tell the EPA how it will achieve zero-net emissions by 2050 before it can go for Ministerial approval.
Stephen Edwell, the independent chair of WA's energy transformation taskforce, has just a few years to stop a solar surge overwhelming the South West power grid.
WA Premier Mark McGowan wants eastern states businesses hurt by high gas prices to move west, but there is no certainty about ongoing cheap gas in WA.
The State’s work health and safety laws will undergo a major revamp, streamlining three Acts into a single one more consistent with national legislation.
All the info and a bit of comment on WA energy and climate every Friday