Latest Energy & Environment Stories

“It’s our waste, it’s our problem”, said Scott Morrison as he announced the nation’s waste export ban culminating in 2024. Not really. It’s a good thing Australia has banned solid waste dumping to the Third World but we have left a gaping, toxic  loophole; burning plastics for energy. Luke Stacey investigates.

Beware recycled plastics. They often contain virgin plastics, the very plastics the recyclers say they are fighting. Luke Stacey investigates green vanguard and their recycling claims and finds, while they do good work in raising public awareness, they could certainly be more transparent. 

Tracts the size of Bulgaria open for oil and gas exploration, along with generous government subsidies for foreign oil companies. Just as the world is tackling climate change, Australia is accelerating its fossil fuel production, and in almost every state and territory. Callum Foote investigates the bizarre hand-outs for a foreign hedge fund drilling for gas and the carve up of the NT’s Beetaloo Basin.

Burning wood for biomass energy is on the rise as an alternative to coal. But it is even dirtier than coal and is leading to alarming levels of deforestation. Elizabeth Minter, Tom Ferrier and Jane McIntyre report.

A hearing into the Environment Effects Statement for Kalbar’s mineral sands project on rich Victorian farmland has been told about competition for billions of litres of water, high levels of uranium, untested technologies and a strange backflip by the project’s “independent experts”. Elizabeth Minter investigates.

The Minerals Council of Australia, a foreign-controlled mining lobby, has duped Australia’s major media in an $80bn PR scam by fraudulently claiming more than $72 billion of GST payments to exaggerate contribution of the minerals industry to Australia. As first-year accounting students know, GST payments are rebatable. Media outlets have not done their work. Callum Foote reports.

Australians try to do the right thing each week by separating recyclables into colour-coded wheelie bins. Meanwhile, the plastics industry is ramping up production of virgin plastic. Luke Stacey reports.

Noise pollution from drilling for oil and gas offshore devastates marine life, affecting not only food sources but oxygen levels. But neither the federal government nor NOPSEMA, which has environmental responsibility for approving offshore projects, takes such damage into account. Suzanne Arnold reports.

From Day one, the WA Labor government has had Woodside’s back. In another case of revolving doors, former WA Labor treasurer Ben Wyatt has just been appointed to Woodside’s board. Peter Milne takes a look at WA Labor’s record in looking after Woodside’s interests.

Mining exports rose $100 billion in a decade, yet they now contribute proportionally less to government coffers. And if WA had the same royalty rate as Queensland, WA citizens would have gained an extra $47 billion over the decade. Callum Foote reports.

BHP counts all the carbon emissions from projects it operates but ignores the climate impact of its investments in projects managed by other companies. This is not a credible approach to climate change, writes Peter Milne, from independent energy and climate news site Boiling Cold, as all owners have a say on the big decisions that affect emissions. Ignoring emissions is also great for executive bonuses.

Forest & Wood Communities Australia purports to be a grassroots organisation of timber workers but it is founded by the chairman of private forestry company Pentarch and other influential timber industry players. Tasha May reports on a classic case of astroturfing.

Australia’s fossil fuel miners and drillers may be receiving more in government subsidies than they pay in royalties. An investigation by Callum Foote lifts the lid on the transfer of wealth from the public to foreign-controlled resources companies.

The mining industry has exaggerated its contribution in taxes and royalties to Australian governments by an estimated $45 billion over the last 10 years. Callum Foote reports the findings of an independent research project by Michael West Media.

Facebook is up there with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp when it comes to sowing the seeds of doubt about climate science, conducting just six fact checks a month on billions of posts. Elizabeth Minter reports.

It is embarrassing enough that the government is even considering PEP11, the proposal to drill for gas directly off the coast of Australia’s most populous beaches and wealthiest economic zone. The final decision rests with Resources Minister Keith Pitt. Luke Stacey and Michael West report.

NSW Liberals and Nationals snuck through floodplain harvesting legislation potentially devastating the already fragile Murray Darling system.

At almost $20,000 per minute, the Government spends more on fossil fuel subsidies than on the Australian Army, writes Rod Campbell.

Women will struggle to get pregnant naturally in the next few decades without stronger regulation of chemicals. Rates of miscarriages, abnormalities in penis development and intersexuality are all increasing at alarming levels. Professors Alex Ford and Gary Hutchison report.

During 2020, 96% of trees felled in the NSW region of Eden were turned into woodchips, with 1.5% for firewood. Elizabeth Minter and Harriet Swift report on the potentially illegal activity and the huge amount of taxpayers’ money being handed out to the timber industry.

Climate groups have repeatedly criticised Woodside over its climate denial over many years. Under heavy pressure from shareholders, will the company finally shed its laggard ways at its AGM on Thursday, asks Elizabeth Minter.

Shell's accountants predict the Dutch giant will never pay Australia for gas extracted at the Gorgon and Prelude LNG projects that it can sell for up to about $4 billion a year. Peter Milne from independent energy and climate news site Boiling Cold has the story....

BHP mulls an exit from coal. Iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest goes headlong into green steel and, by floating a large coal port on the sharemarket, the financial alchemists from Brookfield have dumped their stranded asset onto unsuspecting retail investors. Michael West reports.