Australia's environment minister green-lit bauxite miner Alcoa to keep clearing Western Australia forest to maintain "confidence" with Washington under a critical minerals deal, according to documents obtained by The Guardian.
The documents reveal that Murray Watt, the federal environment minister, granted Alcoa an exemption to continue land clearing despite the US-owned company having unlawfully cleared forest for 15 years without proper approval.
The exemption allows Alcoa to clear additional jarrah and marri forest near Perth for bauxite mining—the raw material for aluminium production. The decision came as Australia and the United States deepen cooperation on critical minerals supply chains, with bauxite considered strategically important for American manufacturing and defense industries.
According to the departmental briefing, the minister determined that allowing continued operations would help give "confidence" to the US about Australia's reliability as a minerals supplier. The Australia-US critical minerals partnership, signed in 2024, aims to reduce dependence on China for processing and refining.
Alcoa has agreed to a $55 million penalty for the unlawful clearing but has been permitted to continue operations under the new exemption. The company had been clearing land without the required federal environmental approvals since the early 2010s, despite repeated warnings from the Canberra environment department.
Environmental groups have condemned the decision as prioritizing geopolitical considerations over conservation. The Western Australia forest being cleared is home to endangered species including Carnaby's black cockatoo and is part of one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
Mate, there's a whole continent and a thousand islands down here. And right now, we're clearing old-growth forest to keep Washington happy.
The decision highlights Australia's difficult balancing act as it positions itself as a critical minerals supplier to Western allies while facing pressure from environmental advocates. Canberra has increasingly framed resource extraction as a national security imperative amid rising tensions with Beijing.
The Western Australia Greens called the exemption "environmental vandalism dressed up as strategic policy," while industry groups defended it as necessary to maintain Australia's reputation as a stable resource partner.
The revelations come as Australia negotiates similar critical minerals agreements with Japan, South Korea, and India—all seeking to diversify supply chains away from China. The precedent set by the Alcoa decision could influence how Canberra weighs environmental protection against strategic economic interests in future cases.
