Whitby also revealed that Alcoa would need to go back and re-rehabilitate some of its oldest mined areas where non-native trees like Tasmanian blue gums and pine trees were planted instead of jarrah,potentially adding a huge cost to the miner’s rehabilitation budget.
WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby.Peter de Kruijff
currently upheld by the Department of Biodiversity,Conservation and Attractions.
Whitby said this dismal record was not appropriate for a company that had been operating in WA since 1963.
Alcoa is obliged to rehabilitate mined land to an acceptable standard before it is handed back to the state,where it returns to the government’s responsibility.
Whitby said the government would not accept any land back from Alcoa that would ultimately cost taxpayers if further rehabilitation efforts were required.
“I’m not prepared for the state to accept responsibility for areas where that start of rehabilitation has occurred that will leave the state with a long-term liability to continue that rehabilitation to get it right,” he said.
“That is Alcoa’s job.
“The problem is if you go too early and accept areas that aren’t up to a certain standard then the liability is on the state to get it right and continue to do that work and to spend that money.
“I’m not an expert,I can look at a plot and say it looks pretty good,but scientists have to be satisfied that there’s a valid ecosystem in that area.”
Whitby also flagged Alcoa would need to redo some of its earlier rehabilitation efforts where it used non-native trees.
“I’ve had discussions at an anecdotal or preliminary level that some of those early areas where they’ve got blue gums and pine trees,they need to go back and use the science of today to start rehabilitating those areas,” he said.
“Those areas will never get to be handed over. They’ll never be acceptable.
“I think there’s some obligation on Alcoa,and there are great expectations on Alcoa,given their privileged position to be able to mine in that area,to perform at the highest level,so I’ve had those discussions.”
Whitby revealed he visited Alcoa’s operations on the weekend,where he was shown the areas the company was planning to mine as well as its rehabilitation work.
He said the company was “getting better” and the science was improving.
“I’ve seen some of the areas that have been rehabilitated with jarrah trees and they’re getting better in terms of the planting of it and the diversity of species,” he said.
An Alcoa spokeswoman said more than 75 per cent of the land cleared for mining operations had been rehabilitated but was at different stages of development.
The miner reports an area as rehabilitated when it has done “landscaping,overburden and topsoil return,contour ripping,fauna habitat return,and seeding” that is completed in the first 12 months of the process towards turning a mined area into one sufficiently restored to be returned to the state government.
The Alcoa spokeswoman said the company was waiting for rehabilitated areas to mature before handing them back to the state for final sign-off,which was one of the reasons why only a limited number of areas had been handed back.
“Many more are nearing this point,” she said.
“Lack of hand back does not equate to a failure of rehabilitation nor in many cases a lack of public access.
“Many of the areas we have rehabilitated that are yet to be handed back to the state support self-sustaining forest ecosystems. Some also provide valuable forest recreation areas.”
The spokeswoman said the company had always conducted its rehabilitation to the government’s criteria of the day,which before 1988 included planting gum trees and pines.
“Since 1988,only WA native species,including jarrah and marri trees,have been returned to our mined areas. Our goal is to return on average the same number of plant species in rehabilitated areas when compared to the surrounding reference forest 15 months after establishment,” she said.
“We will continue to work with the DBCA on appropriate forest management.”
Alcoa’s pre-1988 rehabilitation covered 3579 hectares of forest and 63 hectares of pine and eastern states eucalypt species such as blue gums,some of which included the popular Langford Park mountain bike area near Jarrahdale.
Alcoa handed back 1355 hectares of land to the government from its now-shut Jarrahdale mine in 2005 and 2007.
However,this land did not meet the government’s strict rehabilitation standards and the state only took back the area for Water Corporation to trial thinning the forest to increase runoff to the nearby Wundong dam.
Alcoa’s joint venture partner Alumina Limited has been contacted for comment.
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