[Greens-Media] Alcoa's Wagerup Expansion

[Annie Mayo]

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 14th September

ALCOA DECISION PUT ECONOMIC GAIN ABOVE COMMUNITY HEALTH 


Greens MLC Paul Llewellyn today slated the government for approving Alcoa’s Wagerup expansion.

“The government is once again putting economic gain above community health and environmental concerns,” he says. 

“There is very strong and clear evidence that Alcoa’s pollution has for years been making the community around Yarloop sick, yet the government is permitting the expansion for the sake of a dribble of extra revenue.

“The government claims that Alcoa has agreed in ‘principle’ to a package that is supposed to address the community’s concerns. But according to this package Alcoa will be responsible for much of the pollution and health monitoring. How can that be seen as a transparent solution that will benefit nearby residents? 

“The proposed health surveys will operate over the next 20 years. How many more people will become sick over that time as Alcoa continues to pump out its contaminants? What will the government say in 20 years time, ‘oh dear, we’re sorry, we should have done more to stop it’?

“We mustn’t forget that the alumina industry uses half the state’s gas at a very preferential rate so that it can waste it with inefficient technology that pollutes and sickens our environment and community. Alcoa is one of the state’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters and the government has just given them the go-ahead to do more of the same.”

For more information contact:

Paul Llewellyn: 042 8317 182



Annie Mayo
Electorate Officer
Hon Paul Llewellyn MLC
South West Region
P O Box 541 Denmark WA 6333
Tel: 08 9848 1555
Fax: 08 9848 2200
FREECALL 1800 641 440