Environmental watchdog called on to probe Alcoa’s mining of WA forests

Western Australia’s independent environmental watchdog has been asked to review Alcoa’s plans to mine jarrah forests, which state government agencies fear will endanger Perth’s water supply.

The WA Forest Alliance on Tuesday referred two plans, normally considered behind closed doors by bureaucrats, to the WA Environment Protection Authority.

The rare move brings into the open a battle between Alcoa’s need to keep its three alumina refineries supplied with 28 million tonnes of bauxite a year, and growing concerns about the northern jarrah forest ecosystem that the United Nation in 2022 rated as in danger of collapse due to hotter, drier conditions and greater fire risk.

Forest Alliance convenor Jess Beckerling said the risks from Alcoa’s mining warranted a full and transparent assessment of its cumulative impact.

“This is obviously a matter of major public concern,” she said.

“The expectation must be that current best-practice WA government policy and aspirations are applied and maintained, and that the safety of drinking water and the integrity of ecological function is protected.”

In early February, this masthead revealed state government advisers feared Alcoa’s mining near Serpentine Dam risked driving sediment containing chemical pollutants and disease-causing pathogens into the dam if heavy rain occurred, which would cause the water to be undrinkable for months or even years.

Contamination of the dam that supplied 18 per cent of Perth’s water in 2022 could require construction of a water treatment facility costing up to $2.6 billion.

Alcoa operates under a state agreement signed in 1961 that granted it a vast 700,000-hectare lease stretching along jarrah forests from Perth to Collie.

Alcoa had mined more than 26,000 hectares of forest up to 2019 and each year submits a five-year mining plan to a committee of state government agencies led by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.

It is understood the 2022-2026 plan was never approved due to concerns about Alcoa’s mining practices.

Internal government advice obtained by this masthead revealed the 2023-2027 plan submitted by Alcoa did not meet strict expectations set by State Development Minister Roger Cook and is yet to be approved.

In January, Alcoa chief executive Roy Harvey told Wall Street investment analysts that delays in accessing new areas of forest would cost the miner about $240 million in 2023.

“Because of how critical Western Australia is to Alcoa … we thought it would make sense from a risk mitigation standpoint really just to step back, give ourselves a little bit of extra time,” Harvey said.

WA is the foundation of the $12.2 billion American company, providing 75 per cent of its bauxite and 71 per cent of its alumina in 2022. Alcoa operates much of its global business, including in WA, in a joint venture 40 per cent owned by Melbourne-based listed company Alumina Limited.

In 2020, Alcoa referred a large expansion involving more than 9000 hectares of clearing to the EPA, the first time its activities have been subject to a transparent review.

The EPA must decide within 28 days whether to assess the mining plans referred to it by the Forest Alliance.

An Alcoa spokeswoman said it was proud of its environmental and economic performance over 60 years of operation in the southwest of WA, where it expected to disturb less than eight per cent of its mining lease.

“More than 75 per cent of all areas cleared for mining have already been rehabilitated and that work is ongoing,” she said.

She said Alcoa’s operations employed more than 4000 Western Australians and had never negatively impacted the public drinking water supply.

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