\n<\/p>\n
The Australian government\u2019s decision to allow the US mining giant Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of Western Australian jarrah forest despite past illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.<\/p>\n
The document also reveals Alcoa was unlawfully clearing land for its bauxite mining practices in the area south of Perth for 15 years, despite warnings from the federal environment department.<\/p>\n
Conservationists have expressed outrage that an \u201cunprecedented\u201d $55m penalty announced by the environment minister was only applied to a six-year period in which the illegal clearing was alleged to have occurred.<\/p>\n
Murray Watt said on Wednesday that the penalty \u2013 known as an enforceable undertaking \u2013 was for clearing that occurred from 2019-2025 in known habitat for nationally protected species without an approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.<\/p>\n
When announcing the penalty, Watt said he had granted Alcoa a national interest exemption to allow it to continue clearing in the northern jarrah forest for 18 months while the government considered a proposal for an expansion of the company\u2019s Huntly and Willowdale mining operations to 2045.<\/p>\n
But a new document reveals the environment department had been telling Alcoa since 2011 that its mining operations in the forest required approval under Australia\u2019s environmental laws.<\/p>\n
A department spokesperson said any clearing before 2019 fell outside the statute of limitations, meaning investigation of or enforcement action \u201cagainst any earlier unapproved clearing was not possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
The document \u2013 a statement outlining Watt\u2019s reasons for granting the exemption \u2013 shows the minister believed it was justified because of Alcoa\u2019s links to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year that included selling gallium to the US for use in the defence and renewable energy sectors.<\/p>\n
Watt also noted the Japanese government and Japanese company Sojitz Corporation were joint venture partners with Alcoa to develop a gallium plant at Alcoa\u2019s refinery at Wagerup and both the Australian and US governments had committed funding and equity to the project.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Environment minister Murray Watt decided the exemption helps to give \u2018confidence\u2019 to the US. <\/span> Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAP<\/p>\n Watt decided that although the involvement of the US and Japanese governments did not override Australia\u2019s environment laws, the exemption was a means of \u201creinforcing and giving confidence\u201d to both countries about Australia\u2019s commitment to the project and the critical minerals framework.<\/p>\n Matt Roberts, the executive director of the Conservation Council of WA, said \u201cto learn that Alcoa has been illegally clearing the northern jarrah forest since 2011 is outrageous and an affront to every West Australian\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of that, the government has prioritised corporate interests and foreign defence interests above the jarrah forests, the endangered species that rely on the forests and Perth\u2019s drinking water \u2013 showing just how wrong their priorities are.\u201d<\/p>\n The national interest exemption power has largely been used for emergencies in the past including for activities related to firefighting during this summer\u2019s bushfires in Victoria and the emergency collection and captive management of red handfish threatened by marine heatwaves in Tasmania.<\/p>\n Georgina Woods, the head of research and investigations at Lock the Gate, called the decision \u201cdisgraceful\u201d. She said the document \u201creveals that the environment minister was essentially told by the mining company that this action was necessary to discharge Australia\u2019s obligations under the critical minerals deal with the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis mining company got away with breaking the law for 15 years under successive Australian governments, illegally clearing in a global biodiversity hotspot and then, when it finally admitted it needed some paperwork to continue its destruction, applied for and was granted an exemption to the law within 19 days. It\u2019s flagrant and it\u2019s staggering,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the twisted logic of Australia in the Trump age, the national interest lies not in honouring and protecting the beauty and richness of our natural heritage, but in sacrificing it to foreign mining companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/p>\n WA\u2019s northern jarrah forests are home to endangered species including the state\u2019s unique Carnaby\u2019s and Baudin\u2019s black cockatoos.<\/p>\n Alcoa has been mining for decades in the region, with the statement of reasons showing there had been a long-running dispute between the company and the federal environment department over whether its operations were covered by \u201ccontinuous use\u201d exemptions from the law for activities predating the commencement of the EPBC Act in 2000.<\/p>\n The document shows the department believed Alcoa\u2019s clearing of the forest for bauxite mining had not been covered by these exemptions since 2011 and required an assessment for their impacts on protected species and ecosystems.<\/p>\n In November last year, the federal parliament passed amendments to the EPBC Act that imposed tougher limits on the use of the continuous use exemptions. Clearing of vegetation older than 15 years would no longer be exempt from assessment and approval under the laws.<\/p>\n After the changes, Alcoa \u201cnow accepts that it requires EPBC Act approvals for the Huntly and Willowdale mining operations\u201d and submitted an application for the operations at both mines to be considered through a strategic assessment process, the document states.<\/p>\n On 30 January, Alcoa made an application for a national interest exemption, arguing that without one it would not be possible to continue supplying bauxite to its refineries at Pinjarra and Wagerup and \u201cis in the position of being unable to continue its operations\u201d.<\/p>\n Alcoa argued its application should be accepted to \u201cavoid unintended consequences\u201d of the EPBC reforms and that it would be unable to maintain supply of bauxite without more clearing \u201cand if ongoing supply cannot be maintained this will impact future production of gallium\u201d.<\/p>\n Because the department had told Alcoa its operations were not exempt from the law since 2011, Watt did not accept that the new laws passed last year justified granting the company the national interest exemption.<\/p>\n But he did accept that granting the exemption would be in the national interest because it would \u201cenable mining operations to continue so as to preserve the viability\u201d of the gallium project, which had the backing of the US and Japanese governments.<\/p>\n He said it would help Alcoa to \u201csustain its operations and its financial viability\u201d while its expansion proposals were assessed and would keep a workforce of about 6,000 people in employment. Watt also decided it would help Australia diversify critical minerals supply for the net zero transition and defence materials.<\/p>\n The department\u2019s spokesperson said it was the department\u2019s view that intensified mining by Alcoa since 2011 required approval.<\/p>\n \u201cThe limitations of the Act made resolving this long\u2011running non\u2011compliance complex, but these $55 million undertakings deliver a strong and lasting resolution,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case highlights the limitations of the current regulatory framework, where protracted investigations and constrained compliance tools have made enforcement slow and complex.\u201d<\/p>\n They said the recent reforms to Australia\u2019s nature laws \u201crespond to these issues by strengthening the regulator\u2019s ability to act early, act decisively, and prevent long-running non\u2011compliance from occurring again\u201d.<\/p>\n An Alcoa spokesperson said the national interest exemption would allow the company to \u201cfully modernise our approvals under the EPBC Act\u201d and sustain thousands of jobs. They said the minister\u2019s statement of reasons made clear that \u201cAlcoa and the government have had a difference in position regarding our historical position in relation to our approvals under the EPBC Act\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs noted in the statement, our operations pre-date the EPBC Act and Alcoa has continued operations on the basis that certain exemptions under the Act applied,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cAlcoa has voluntarily entered into agreements (enforceable undertakings) with the government to reconcile this difference of position and importantly the associated investment is for conservation programs and research for the health of the Northern Jarrah Forest.\u201d<\/p>\n The WA Greens upper house MP Jess Beckerling said it was \u201cstaggering to read that Alcoa has been clearing illegally since 2011, that the department has been informing Alcoa of its obligations since that time, but that no penalty has been imposed until now\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe notion that gallium production for the American military should afford Alcoa a national interest exemption from federal laws is farcical,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Watt declined to answer specific questions, instead directing Guardian Australia to an interview with ABC radio in Perth this week in which he described the penalty as \u201can unprecedented amount for a company to pay after undertaking unlawful clearing\u201d.<\/p>\n He told the ABC: \u201cThis discussion has been going on between my department and Alcoa for around 10 years\u201d and \u201cthere\u2019s been this difference of opinion legally about whether they were required to get approvals or not, and that\u2019s now been resolved as a result of our new laws.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the Albanese government had \u201cbeefed up its compliance efforts\u201d and was \u201cprosecuting a lot more people\u201d than previous governments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Australian government\u2019s decision to allow the US mining giant Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of Western Australian jarrah forest despite past illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows. The document also reveals Alcoa was unlawfully<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[23230,346,23228,18679,696,83,870,1721,15220,572,23229,1036],"class_list":{"0":"post-44941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alcoa","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australiaus","11":"tag-clearing","12":"tag-deal","13":"tag-decision","14":"tag-document","15":"tag-forest","16":"tag-minerals","17":"tag-reveals","18":"tag-underpinned","19":"tag-western"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018It\u2019s staggering\u2019<\/h2>\n