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.
