CONSERVATION groups say new state government conditions on Alcoa don’t go far enough to protect the Northern Jarrah Forest.

The groups remain steadfast that no amount of conditions can offset the danger of Alcoa’s operations to critical habitat, drinking water and the climate.

“Alcoa has been granted yet another free pass to continue its destruction in the Northern Jarrah Forest,” Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said.

“It’s time the WA government stops the favouritism and holds Alcoa to the same rules it holds every other company, by stopping Alcoa from operating while it is under assessment from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” he said.

“Given the evidence around the fact that Alcoa has time and time again failed to comply with exemption orders under its previous mining management program, it leaves us with no confidence whatsoever that it will meet these new conditions.

“What we need from the government is a plan to get out of forest mining.

“What we don’t need is a new plan that allows the ongoing destruction of the Northern Jarrah Forest, albeit with stricter conditions – the outcome remains the same.

“No amount of buffer zones, expert advice, surveys, tree tagging or reviews will prevent the devastation we’ve seen over the past 60 years, with not one hectare of mined forest returned to its original state.

“The government needs to start listening to the voices behind the 59,000 public submissions which were lodged with the EPA during the public consultation period over the company’s current and future mining plans.”

WA Forest Alliance director Jess Boyce said without the tireless work of many Western Australians, these conditions would not have been strengthened at all.

“We have long called for these restrictions as the absolute minimum, but no amount of conditions can offset Alcoa’s clearing,” she said.

“Make no mistake, any exemption order granted is a free pass for Alcoa to continue its destruction of the world’s only jarrah forest. It’s clear that what Western Australians really want is Alcoa out and an end to forest mining.”

Wilderness Society WA campaigns manager Alyx Douglas said the law was clear: “You can’t mine an area while the EPA is still assessing it. Yet for three years the WA government has kept writing Alcoa exemptions, and now it’s lining up four more years of mining in the very areas the EPA hasn’t finished assessing.

“The West Australian government expects us to applaud stricter conditions while leaving loopholes big enough to drive a bulldozer through. Protections that don’t apply where Alcoa is already mining or don’t meet the statewide standard are hardly protections at all.

“A ‘temporary’ exemption that keeps getting renewed isn’t temporary anymore. The WA government can’t keep kicking the can down the road. It needs to stop Alcoa trashing our forests and plan an end to native forest mining.”