Alcoa to pay $36 million after “unlawful” forest clearing in Australia

Alcoa will pay the Australian government $36 million (55 million Australian dollars) as part of a settlement over what federal authorities described as “unlawful” clearing of endangered forest tracts without required approvals between 2019 and 2025, according to the agreement outlined by Australia’s environment minister.

Sen. Murray Watt, the minister for the environment and water, said the payment—converted from 55 million Australian dollars—settles a long-running question over whether Alcoa should have been exempt from federal environmental processes.

In a statement, Alcoa President and CEO William F. Oplinger said the company supports “responsible operations” and described the settlement as a step toward a revised federal approvals pathway. Watt also said the deal represented what he described as the largest enforceable undertaking over Australia’s environment laws at the national level.

The settlement language, as described in reporting on the agreement, has Alcoa maintaining that it complied with federal law while agreeing to the payments to “acknowledge historical clearing.” The deal also includes an 18-month exemption allowing Alcoa to continue operating while it seeks the required approvals through the updated assessment process.

Alcoa’s mining footprint includes operations in and around the Northern Jarrah forest near Perth, where the company has extracted bauxite—used to make alumina and then aluminum—since the 1960s. The endangered forest is described as a biodiversity hotspot that includes threatened species such as black cockatoos, as well as a range of marsupials.

Reporting on the case also points to criticism of Alcoa’s rehabilitation efforts in the area. A botanist previously involved in efforts to support rehabilitation said the program was ineffective, and Australian scientists have issued additional criticisms, according to the account that accompanied the settlement announcement.

The reporting further describes scrutiny of marketing tied to the rehabilitation program. Ads sponsored by the company last summer drew attention from an ad standards watchdog, which issued a report stating that the advertisement was “inaccurate and likely to mislead or deceive target consumers.”

Even as the federal settlement resolves the issue of the clearing alleged to have occurred without approvals over a defined period, Alcoa’s expansion plans remain under review in Western Australia. A state proposal to substantially expand operations drew about 60,000 public comments after it was submitted to the Environmental Authority last summer, with critics including local governments that cover the mining and refining areas and representatives from multiple First Nations groups.

A decision on the Western Australia proposal remains pending. In a statement to Public Source, Alcoa said it responded to “comments received from government entities” and remained committed to working toward a decision by the end of 2026.

This story was originally published by Pittsburgh’s Public Source and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.