On Monday 13 April, work stopped at Alcoa’s Huntly mine site for three hours as a result of direct action by a group of 16 concerned Western Australians. This was the first time direct action has stopped Alcoa’s mining activities since the 1970s.
Documents obtained by the WA Forest Alliance under Freedom of Information (FOI) reveal that Alcoa has attempted to shut Water Corporation inspectors out of its mine sites in order to avoid scrutiny.
“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.”
That’s what Roger Cook told ABC Radio when asked about the $55 million fine Alcoa has received as a consequence of illegal forest clearing dating back to 2011*.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt published a ‘statement of reasons’ yesterday, outlining why he granted Alcoa an 18-month exemption to continue mining in WA’s Northern Jarrah Forest, despite being found to have cleared land over 15 years without permission.
The End Forest Mining (EFM) alliance has called an agreement reached with the Australian Government and US mining giant Alcoa to pay $55 million to “remediate historical land clearing” without approval as “a slap on the wrist”.