Greens MP refers Alcoa to watchdog over more alleged WA tree clearing breaches

Bauxite miner Alcoa is facing further scrutiny of its clearing practices after the WA Greens referred the company to the environmental regulator over two more alleged breaches of an exemption order allowing it to continue mining.

Greens MP Jess Beckerling, who trespassed in Alcoa’s mining area to investigate another suspected clearing breach late last year, referred the clearing to within two metres of a significant jarrah tree and the destruction of a marri tree to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, which confirmed to the ABC it was investigating.

“In just 10 hours of fieldwork, three suspected breaches have been identified within just three kilometres of each other,” Beckerling said.

“It is clear that Alcoa has a very serious problem with compliance and has no regard for state or federal laws; the company needs to be reined in.

“The department has now been investigating the first breach I submitted for six weeks, while Alcoa keeps clearing. With two more suspected breaches now requiring investigation, this needs to be brought to a conclusion now.

“The evidence is crystal clear, and the law is there in black and white. There is no way, as far as I can see, that Alcoa is operating within the law and the Environment Minister must immediately stop their mining activities.”

Beckerling’s new allegations come a week after Alcoa was fined $55 million by the Commonwealth for illegal clearing of the northern jarrah forest area from 2019 to 2025.

Despite agreeing to pay that sum of money, which will be spent on rehabilitation and environmental protection, Alcoa maintained it believed the land in question was cleared legally.

Alcoa is currently subject to an Environmental Protection Authority assessment of its operations and future plans, which will replace the decades-old state agreement it currently operates under.

As part of that assessment process, the Cook government granted it an exemption to continue operations while the EPA completed its work.

This exemption came with conditions, including that the company cannot clear land within 10 metres of significant trees.

Beckerling argued the breaches she alleged constituted a breach of that exemption order, and the company should halt work.

This masthead approached Alcoa for comment, but the company told the ABC it took the conditions governing its operations very seriously and was committed to operating in accordance with them.

WA Premier Roger Cook would not comment on Beckerling’s allegations while the investigations were ongoing, but pointed out that the EPA process would bring the US miner into a modern environmental protection regime.

“The Alcoa agreement was one of the very early agreements, and so by bringing them into this regime and modernising their agreement, we can make sure that their operations do meet community expectations for minimising environmental impacts,” he said.

However, Cook said Alcoa, which employed about 6000 people in the state, was an important operation.

“They pay royalties, they bring prosperity by virtue of their economic activity, so, obviously, any decision to curtail those operations is a very significant one, and one which will impact thousands of Western Australians,” he said.

“That’s why we want them to simply make sure that they do their best to protect the environment as part of their operations.”

Asked whether his government was prepared to curtail Alcoa’s operations if it continued to flout conditions, Cook said the decision was up to the EPA.

“Ultimately, the EPA may come to the view that the impact of their work cannot minimise the impact on the environment and if that’s their assessment, we’ll take that on board at the time,” he said.

A snap protest was held outside Parliament House on Tuesday with an alliance of conservation agencies calling for the state to stop Alcoa’s operations altogether.