US miner under further investigation after destroying WA habitat of black cockatoos, quokkas and numbats | Western Australia
US mining company Alcoa’s strip mining in Western Australia’s jarrah forest is under further investigation after it “deliberately repeatedly breached” environmental laws destroying habitats for protected species including black cockatoos, quokkas and marsupial anteaters, and cost $40 million to avoid investigation.
The ongoing investigation into Alcoa’s cleanup of the Willowdale mine was revealed in 2017. talking points The agreement was prepared for federal ministers ahead of the announcement in February of a record $55 million deal to swap the Huntly mine.
News of another federal investigation increases pressure on Alcoa’s bauxite mining in southwestern Western Australia. Threatening Perth’s water supplydestroyed about 280 square kilometers of jarrah forest, none of them were rehabilitated by the company in 60 years and when converted to alumina mercury-laden emissions, contaminated groundwater and millions of tons unstable toxic bauxite residue.
Alcoa is pressing the Western Australian and federal governments to approve the expansion of its Huntly mine in the north, much of it around Perth’s largest drinking water dam, the Serpentine.
The February settlement involved Alcoa spending $40 million in 2023 and 2024 to remediate what the government called “a deliberate repeat violation – 318 hectares were cleared while under investigation,” according to submissions released in response to a freedom of information request.
WA Forest Alliance director Jess Boyce said the federal government’s labeling of Alcoa’s clearing as a “deliberate repeated breach” showed the company was “aware it was acting in blatant disregard of environmental law”.
“The question is: Why did the federal government, instead of stopping the swap, not only let it continue for two years, but now gave Alcoa immunity to continue the swap even though it had proven to be unreliable?”
Alcoa agreed destroyed known habitats of protected species, but denied breaking the law.
The breach created a “3,000-hectare offset obligation,” and the federal government gave Alcoa an enforceable commitment to spend at least $40 million on land acquisitions by the end of 2026.
another one commitment Spending $15 million involves Alcoa clearing 1,777 hectares of jarrah forest (equivalent to four of Perth’s Kings Park) from 2019 to 2023.
An Alcoa spokesman said mining, which began in the early 1960s, had historically been carried out in accordance with WA legislation.
“Our operations predate the (federal) EPBC Act and we have always maintained that we operate under the grandfathering provisions of the act (section 43B “continued use” in Huntly and section 43A “prior authorization” in Willowdale),” he said.
“Section 43B was changed by the government as part of the latest package of revisions to the EPBC Act, meaning it can no longer be relied upon in Huntly. Section 43A remains in the law and is unchanged.”
The Huntly mine, located mostly in watersheds, supplies Alcoa’s Pinjarra alumina refinery.
The newly revealed investigation centers on possible illegal clearing of the southern Willowdale mine, which feeds Alcoa’s Wagerup refinery. gallium plantA project supported by the governments of Australia, Japan and the USA is planned.
A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water said the investigation into land clearing at Alcoa’s Willowdale mine was ongoing and would not comment further.
Greens WA upper councilor Jess Beckerling said 59,000 submissions to the EPA about Alcoa’s proposed expansion showed “deep dissatisfaction with the continued clearing of the biodiverse North Jarrah Forests”.
“We have a serious problem in this country with multinational corporations destroying the places we love and our laws and governments being completely inadequate to rein them in,” he said.
