The department of conservation says Alcoa has not met the rehabilitation completion criteria,but the miner claims it has rehabilitated 75 per cent of the forest it has cleared.
When Alcoa says it has rehabilitated an area of jarrah forest it is a long way from what anyone would regard as being in good condition.
Alcoa’s future mining near Serpentine Dam is a greater threat to Perth’s biggest drinking water dam than its present work which is already worrying the WA government.
US bauxite miner Alcoa has been ordered to urgently clean out a pipeline likely filled with toxic chemicals it illegally built over a southwest drinking water dam.
Alcoa’s mining practices which have already worried the state government may be subject to an independent environmental assessment following a request from an environmental group.
US aluminium giant Alcoa pumped water with “forever chemical” PFAS over a dam near Waroona without regulatory approval or telling the Water Corporation.
Alcoa needs the WA government to allow it to mine more jarrah forests north of Perth’s biggest drinking water dam to keep its alumina refineries at full production.
You’d think that Alcoa,after enduring a week of damaging revelations about its bauxite mining on the Darling Scarp,would be ready for the obvious when fronting the media.
WA Premier Mark McGowan has deflected questions about the current risk to Serpentine Dam,which provided 18 per cent of Perth’s drinking water last financial year.
Do State Development Minister (and Deputy Premier) Roger Cook,Environment Minister Reece Whitby and Water Minister Simone McGurk stand by Alcoa,or by the advice of their own departmental experts?
Alcoa will only use bauxite mined in WA’s jarrah forests in its local refineries in a decision that will slightly reduce its impact on a threatened ecosystem.