{"id":489504,"date":"2026-02-19T06:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489504\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:06:11","slug":"alcoas-environmental-record-disappointing-says-wa-premier-after-55m-payment-for-unlawful-jarrah-forest-clearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489504\/","title":{"rendered":"Alcoa’s environmental record ‘disappointing’ says WA premier after $55m payment for unlawful jarrah forest clearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Australians have long been “disappointed” with the environmental performance of one of the state’s major miners, according to the premier.<\/p>\n

Alcoa yesterday agreed to pay $55 million for clearing parts of a native forest <\/a>in the state to mine bauxite without approval between 2019 and 2025.<\/p>\n

The US-based company said it believed it had acted within the law, but welcomed Environment Minister Murray Watt’s decision to allow it to continue “limited land clearing” as assessments of its operations continued.<\/p>\n

“I’m not surprised the [federal government] have taken these steps to clamp down on their activities,” WA Premier Roger Cook told ABC Radio Perth.<\/p>\n

“Over a long period of time I think we’ve been disappointed with the performance of Alcoa when it comes to protecting the environment and rehabilitating the environment.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Roger Cook says Alcoa’s protection of the environment has not been “at the level that we expect”. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

“That’s why we’ve done a bunch of work with them around bringing them into a modern and contemporary environmental protection arrangement.”<\/p>\n

Misleading ads, poor rehabilitation<\/p>\n

In late 2023 the state government announced plans to overhaul the rules around Alcoa’s operations, which sit outside of the environmental laws that apply to most other projects.<\/p>\n

Alcoa is instead governed by an agreement first struck in 1961.<\/p>\n

A review published in a scientific journal the following year found the company’s rehabilitation efforts were “substandard”<\/a> and on a “poor to declining trajectory”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/p>\n

Alcoa’s mining footprint between 1984 and 2022. (Supplied: Google Earth)<\/p>\n

At the time, Alcoa rejected the report’s findings and said it had made commitments to increase its rates of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

Late last year Australia’s advertising watchdog found the company had made inaccurate or misleading claims in a newspaper ad<\/a> about its rehabilitation of the forests it mines in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And earlier this year the ABC revealed the company was being investigated for potentially breaching a condition<\/a> of its deal with the government to continue mining while its rules were updated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alcoa denied any wrongdoing and said it took the conditions of its operations “very seriously”.<\/p>\n

‘They’ve got to do their part’<\/p>\n

Asked if Alcoa was being allowed to do whatever it wanted, Mr Cook said the company’s performance “wasn’t at the level that we expect today”.<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that we obviously benefit from the economic activity which takes place,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Many thousands of West Australians \u2026 work directly or indirectly with Alcoa, so we understand that it’s important activity.<\/p>\n

“But they’ve got to do their part to maintain the environmental standards.”<\/p>\n

Kingsley Dixon, who co-authored the report that identified Alcoa’s rehabilitation failures, said he was pleased to hear the premier talking about modern standards.<\/p>\n

“Contemporary environmental standards are very clear. If you knock over pristine nature, you must restore exactly that nature,” Professor Dixon told ABC Radio Perth.<\/p>\n

“Which includes the old growth elements which are grass trees that could be 200 to 300 years old, zamia palms that could be 400 years old, 300 and 400-year-old jarrah trees.<\/p>\n

“Let’s put a contemporary lens on it. I think they will be found to be not fit for purpose to be in the world’s most biodiverse forest.”<\/p>\n

In a statement responding to yesterday’s deal with the Commonwealth, the company said it would limit clearing to 800 hectares per year and increase its new rehabilitation to 1,000ha per year by 2027.<\/p>\n

People are concerned: MP<\/p>\n

Member for Kalamunda Adam Hort, whose electorate encompasses part of Alcoa’s land clearing area, said the mining giant had “rightly” been penalised for its actions.<\/p>\n

“There’s an important place for mining, very important, but what has happened here is they’ve overstepped the boundaries,” he said.<\/p>\n

Alcoa faces probe over claims it mined too close to ‘significant’ jarrah tree<\/a><\/p>\n

WA’s environmental regulator is investigating an alleged breach of Alcoa’s state-imposed mining conditions which, if proven, would make it illegal for the company to continue some of its mining operations.<\/p>\n

“I think rightly so they’ve been penalised for that.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hort called for the state government to pay close attention to the major miner.<\/p>\n

“The message that I’m getting clear right across the Perth Hills is people are very concerned [about] the kind of conduct that they’re seeing from Alcoa,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping that they can re-establish that trust that they need to have, the community needs to have in them, if they’re going to continue to mine in the Perth Hills.”<\/p>\n

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