Alcoa’s mining in WA one step closer to detailed independent review

Western Australia’s environmental watchdog has invited public comment on whether it should undertake a detailed independent review of Alcoa’s mining in WA’s jarrah forests which the US firm has worked for 60 years.

In February, environmental group WA Forest Alliance referred two Alcoa mining plans, normally considered behind closed doors by bureaucrats, to the WA Environment Protection Authority.

Alcoa has cleared 28,000 hectares of the northern jarrah forest, which is under pressure in a drier, warmer climate and experiencing more bushfires.Credit: Anonymous

Alcoa has been in the public eye this year due to the risk its mining poses to the dams that supply water to Perth, its failure to complete any rehabilitation of the 280 square kilometres of jarrah forest it has cleared, and building a pipeline, without permission from regulators, to transport water contaminated with the toxic chemicals known as PFAS over a drinking water dam.

The EPA, which can by law only consider a referral once, has determined after more than five months of deliberation that it has not previously dealt with some of the issues in this referral.

Maps from Alcoa the EPA has published show the areas the miner thinks have not been previously referred.

The authority has given the public until August 15 to comment on whether the authority should conduct an assessment but has not released what it considers to be the relevant areas.

WA Forest Alliance campaign director Jess Beckerling said she expected a huge number of submissions to the watchdog.

“For decades, Alcoa has hid behind a secretive approvals process, but now the massive impacts the company is having on the forests, and the major risk it poses to drinking water, can be made subject to a full and public environmental review,” she said.

“Alcoa is the number one deforestation culprit in WA.”

Currently, each year a rolling five-year mining plan for the Huntly area near Serpentine Dam and the Willowdale area further south is assessed by a committee of state government agencies with no public input or disclosure of what is approved.

Alcoa Australia president Matt Reed said he believed the miner could responsibly operate under the present system until it transitioned to assessment by the Environmental Protection Authority in the longer term.

“We are increasing controls to protect drinking water, stepping up mine site rehabilitation and
enhancing the management of social impacts, including recently announced no-mining zones
around the towns of Dwellingup and Jarrahdale,” he said.

Alcoa yet to satisfy government on Perth drinking water risk

Reed said the miner, which employs 4400 people in WA, could not estimate the financial impact of a potential EPA assessment.

Alcoa is already in uncertain territory with the existing approvals process, and in July Alcoa chief executive Roy Harvey told Wall Street analysts there was “no fixed timetable” for resolving the impasse.

For three years Alcoa has been unable to address government concerns that its mining poses a risk to the water supply from dams in the jarrah forest to Perth and much of the South West.

Alcoa’s mining plans are regarded as commercial in confidence by the state government and cannot be obtained with a freedom of information request.

However, the most recently approved plan for 2021-2025 is now in the public domain after the miner attached it to a works approval that the environment regulator released for public comment in July.

State development minister Roger Cook, now also the premier, approved the plan in December 2021, 16 months after it was first submitted in August 2020.

In an attached letter to Alcoa, Cook said the review was delayed “due to Alcoa’s need to address increasing risks from intended mining in steeper-sloped terrain in the vicinity of reservoirs and areas within catchments protection and public drinking water sources.”

In the plan, Alcoa committed not to clear forest in these riskier areas until its measures to reduce the risk of sediment flow from their mines into dams, which could render the water unusable, were agreed with state government agencies.

After 21 months, Alcoa’s measures had still not been accepted, according to a spokesman for the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation that heads the committee reviewing the plans.

An Alcoa spokeswoman said the company withdrew its 2023-2027 mining plan from assessment in March and is continuing to work with the government on its development.

The effect has been to substantially reduce Alcoa’s clearing of jarrah forest to access more bauxite.

In 2021 and 2022 Alcoa planned to clear 1233 hectares of forest but only achieved 851.

In 2023 the clearing of 778 hectares is planned, but only 212 were cleared in the first six months.

Alcoa will rehabilitate cleared land to establish a “self-sustaining jarrah forest ecosystem, planned to enhance or maintain water, timber, recreation, conservation, and other nominated forest values” in accordance with approved completion criteria, according to an Alcoa document published by the EPA.

Alcoa has cleared 280 square kilometres of jarrah forest over 60 years, but has not completed any rehabilitation to the standard it has agreed with the state government.

The bauxite feeds three alumina refineries at Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup. Since the start of the year, Kwinana has operated at reduced capacity due to a lack of bauxite.

The company’s operations in WA are 40 per cent owned by ASX-listed Alumina Limited.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.