US miner under further investigation after destroying WA habitat of black cockatoos, quokkas and numbats

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Pressure grows on Alcoa over strip-mining of Western Australian jarrah forest, which also threatens Perth’s water supply

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US mining company Alcoa’s strip-mining of Western Australia’s jarrah forest is under further investigation after its “deliberate repeat breach” of environmental laws that destroyed habitat for protected species – including black cockatoos, quokkas and numbats – and cost it $40m to avoid prosecution.

The ongoing inquiry into Alcoa’s clearing at its Willowdale mine was revealed in talking points for federal ministers prepared ahead of the February announcement of a record $55m settlement for clearing at its Huntly mine.

News of another federal investigation piles more pressure on Alcoa’s bauxite mining in south-west WA, which threatens Perth’s water supply, has destroyed about 280 sq km of jarrah forest, none of which the company has rehabilitated in 60 years, and when refined into alumina, results in mercury-laden emissions, contaminated groundwater and millions of tonnes of unstable toxic bauxite residue.

Alcoa is pushing the WA and federal governments to approve an expansion of its northern Huntly mine, much of it around Perth’s largest drinking water dam, the Serpentine.

The February deal included Alcoa spending $40m to remedy what the government called “a deliberate repeat breach – 318 hectares cleared while under investigation” in 2023 and 2024, according to the talking points released in response to a freedom of information request.

Jess Boyce, director of the WA Forest Alliance, said the federal government’s labelling of Alcoa’s clearing as a “deliberate repeat breach” indicates the company was “well aware that it was acting with blatant disregard for environmental law”.

“The question is, why did the federal government not only let this continue for two years, rather than halt clearing, but has now given Alcoa an exemption to continue clearing despite proving it can’t be trusted?”

Alcoa acknowledged it destroyed the known habitat of protected species, but denied it breached the law.

The breach created an “offset liability of 3,000 hectares”, and the federal government has imposed an enforceable undertaking on Alcoa to spend at least $40m on land purchases by the end of 2026.

Another undertaking to spend $15m covers Alcoa clearing 1,777 hectares of jarrah forest – equivalent to four of Perth’s Kings Park – from 2019 to 2023.

An Alcoa spokesman said its mining, which started in the early 1960s, has historically been undertaken in accordance with WA legislation.

“Our operations predate the (federal) EPBC Act, and we have always maintained we were operating under grandfathering provisions (section 43B “continuing use” at Huntly and section 43A “prior authorisation” at Willowdale) of the act,” he said.

“Section 43B was amended as part of the recent package of revisions made by the government to the EPBC Act, meaning it could no longer be relied on at Huntly. Section 43A remains in the act and was unchanged.”

The Huntly mine, which is mainly in water catchments, supplies Alcoa’s Pinjarra alumina refinery.

The newly revealed investigation is into possible illegal clearing at Alcoa’s southern Willowdale mine, which feeds its Wagerup refinery, where a gallium plant, backed by the Australian, Japanese and US governments, is planned.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said its investigation into land clearing at Alcoa’s Willowdale mine is ongoing and it would not comment further.

Greens WA upper house member Jess Beckerling said the 59,000 submissions to the EPA about Alcoa’s proposed expansion indicated a “profound level of discontent with continued clearing of the highly biodiverse Northern Jarrah Forests”.

“We have a serious problem in this country with multinational corporations destroying places we love and our laws and governments being completely inadequate to rein them in,” she said.

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