THE Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) chair Darren Walsh has confirmed more than 59,000 public submissions were lodged in the past 12 weeks over US mining giant Alcoa’s plans to expand operations in the Northern Jarrah Forest.

“This is the largest number of submissions the EPA has ever received and clearly indicates a high level of public interest,” he said.

“However the aim of the EPA’s public review is about ensuring that all environmental matters and information relevant to the assessments have been considered.

“The submissions from the Alcoa public reviews are currently being reviewed and consolidated into a summary of submissions to be provided to the proponent for response.

“Alcoa’s responses will be published before the independent EPA completes its assessments and delivers its report to the Environment Minister.”

Public submissions closed on August 21, following a community campaign including a 2000 strong rally to parliament and a series of public town hall meetings organised by End Forest Mining highlighting the impact of Alcoa’s bauxite mining in the Darling Range.

Issues discussed included deforestation, forest rehabilitation shortcomings, loss of habitat for threatened species, concerns surrounding contamination of Perth’s water supply, and the significance of the Northern Jarrah Forest from a First Nations perspective.

Recently, national advertisement regulators Ad Standards upheld a ruling they made in August regarding breaches in a print advertisement by Alcoa in the West Australian newspaper.

Alcoa’s print advertisement was found by the Ad Standards panel to have breached four out of five sections in which complaints were raised.

“The panel considered that the overall impression created by the advertisement was inaccurate and likely to mislead or deceive target consumers,” the Ad Standards panel said.

“While the advertisement begins with the statement that rehabilitation is happening and includes a qualification that some features of a forest take time to mature, these were not enough to counteract the overall impression that the cleared areas had already been rehabilitated to a point which would look like a forest.

“A target consumer was likely to interpret the statement ‘75 per cent of the cleared forest has already been rehabilitated’ as the rehabilitation work was already done, to a point where the area would resemble a forest.

“The reference to ‘self-sustaining forest’ adds to this interpretation.

“The panel considered that the word forest is widely understood to be an ecosystem of dense trees and undergrowth.”

Due to the finding, the panel upheld the complaint and Alcoa discontinued the advertisement and said there were no plans for the advertisement to be used again.

WA Forest Alliance director Jess Boyce said WA residents sent a clear message about their opposition to forest mining.

“This huge response, with more than 5000 individual responses in addition to the nearly 54,000 people who signed their names to organisations’ submissions, we believe, is the highest number of submissions ever received by the WA EPA,” she said.

“This has been a whole of community response, with West Australians and indeed people from right across the country, from all walks of life right across the social and political spectrum, saying enough is enough.”

Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said this was the first time in 60 years that the public had an opportunity to scrutinise the company’s mining operations.

“Clearly, the people of WA have taken up this opportunity with gusto to share their views on how this proposal threatens the Northern Jarrah Forest and its biodiversity, climate, culture, water, and natural heritage for future generations,” he said.

“Alcoa’s expansion plans would see the  equivalent of 27.5 Kings Parks bulldozed to extract bauxite.”

Perth Hills LGAs oppose Alcoa lease reported the City of Kalamunda and Shire of Mundaring both voted to oppose the proposed expansion during their council meetings on August 12.

Alcoa’s Perth Hills expansion zone reported a portion of the mining lease agreement did cover an area of Mundaring and Kalamunda.

However, an Alcoa spokesperson said Alcoa’s plans for new mining being assessed by the EPA did not fall within the Kalamunda or Mundaring areas and exploration did not necessarily indicate intention to mine.

Mr Walsh said the EPA intends to produce one report, which will provide its assessment and recommendations on each of Alcoa’s proposals.

“Both assessments are expected to be completed in the first half of 2026,” he said.

“After a three-week public appeal period the Minister will consider any appeals before making a final decision on the proposals.”

Alcoa has been contacted for comment.