Pittsburgh-based Alcoa will pay the Australian government a settlement the company put at $36 million for “unlawfully” clearing tracts of endangered forest without approvals between 2019 and 2025. The metals giant began mining bauxite — the raw ingredient for aluminum — from beneath Australia’s Northern Jarrah forest in the 1960s, but its footprint has swelled in recent years, drawing new scrutiny from regulators and the public. Senator Murray Watt, Australia’s environment and water minister, said the payment — $55 million in Australian dollars — settles a longstanding question of whether Alcoa should enjoy exemptions from federal environmental processes. “We are committed to responsible operations and welcome this important step in transitioning our approvals to a contemporary assessment process that provides increased certainty for our operations and our people into the future,” Alcoa President and CEO William F. Oplinger said in a statement. “We’re proud of our more than 60 years as a leading Australian aluminum producer and the role we are now playing in support of critical minerals production.” “It’s well and truly the largest amount that’s been paid by way of an enforceable undertaking around the environment laws nationally,” Watt said in an interview with Australian broadcasters Feb. 18. Alcoa maintains it has complied with federal law but agreed to the payments to “acknowledge historical clearing.” The agreement includes an 18-month exemption for the company to operate while seeking those approvals. Last year, Pittsburgh’s Public Source traveled to Australia to investigate Alcoa’s plans for the forest, environmental effects and community concerns. Alcoa, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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