Examining Alcoa's proposed bauxite mining expansion in WA's jarrah forests
US aluminium giant Alcoa is proposing to expand its mining operations in the world's only jarrah forests in Western Australia, setting the stage for a battle with environmentalists over the impact on wildlife and water quality.
The Pennsylvania-based company has mined in WA for bauxite, used to create aluminium, since the 1960s.
Alcoa has made two proposals to expand its mining operations, some of which are near the Serpentine Dam, which is one of Perth's primary water sources.
The state's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has opened the assessments to the public for comments and submissions.
The WA government has previously approved the company's mining plans despite internal advice stating they posed a high risk to Perth's drinking water and endangered species.
Alcoa's director of regulatory approvals, Kane Moyler, said the company was managing any potential risks to both conservation and drinking water supplies.
"We've operated for more than 60 years in and around public drinking water reservoirs, and we've not negatively impacted them in any way," he told ABC Radio Perth.
The company said it had strict measures in place to contain surface runoff, and water treatment methods implemented to remove PFAS — a chemical which does not naturally break down.
Mr Moyler said the areas closest to the dams would not form part of any future proposals after the state government implemented a two-kilometre "reservoir protection zone".
"They are the areas in closest proximity to public drinking water dams, and they will not form part of our proposal going forward," Mr Moyler said.
He said the company had ceased all current mining operations within one kilometre of the dam, but was still operating within the one-to-two kilometre zone.
"There are active operations that are occurring and will need to continue to occur before we transition to those new mine regions," he said.
Alcoa has proposed to expand three mining regions — Myara North, Holyoake and O'Neil — and increase its alumina production at the Pinjarra refinery until 2045.
Alongside this proposal is a separate plan to expand its Huntly and Willowdale mines until 2027.
Both proposals are open to public comment, after which the EPA will decide whether or not to formally assess them.
It is the Huntly and Willowdale mine proposals which the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation deemed would pose a "high level of risk to public drinking water sources and native flora and fauna".
Internal advice produced by the department in 2023, seen by the ABC, stated it was "likely" the Serpentine Reservoir would be contaminated by "future drainage failures".
The state-owned Water Corporation — responsible for managing Perth's water supply — said in the event of the Serpentine Dam being contaminated, more than 100,000 people could consume contaminated water after six hours.
The concerns were raised by the Water Corporation in documents obtained by independent news site Boiling Cold and seen by the ABC.
Conservation Council WA (CCWA) has also raised concerns about the impact of Alcoa's operations on the environment, which it said was "the largest forest clearing plan ever before the EPA" when combining the two proposals.
"Alcoa's proposal to clear a further 7,500 hectares of forest in Perth's water catchment zone will be environmentally devastating," CCWA nature program manager Rhiannon Hardwick said.
"We know that black cockatoos are facing extinction due to habitat destruction … climate change is already causing havoc, with hot and dry conditions wiping out forests and woodland habitat at a rate of knots, in turn reducing seed production as a food source."
Alcoa is exempt from most of the state's environmental legislation, and is instead governed under state agreements which allow it to mine about 7,000 square kilometres of forest.
Alcoa has not completed rehabilitation in any of the 280 sq km of forest it has cleared, according to the WA government.
A review of the company's rehabilitation efforts, published last year, concluded Alcoa's results were "substandard" and on a "poor to declining trajectory".
Alcoa contested the claims and said it had rehabilitated 75 per cent of the land it cleared.
"I don't believe it is misleading … we have rehabilitated 75 per cent of our operations, but it is in various stages of rehabilitation," Mr Moyler said.
He said the company would be "responding to each and every one of those comments" provided through the EPA's public review process, and he was confident they had maintained the community's trust.
"The bauxite that we mine, it is refined in our refineries here in Western Australia, generating many thousands of downstream jobs," Mr Moyler said.
"It is one of the great success stories of our mining industry where we are fully integrated and creating a very important metal, not only for the future of decarbonisation, it plays a critical role in many things like solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars.
"I think we have a lot of confidence in terms of the product that we're producing."
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