Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA’s extraordinary attack on green movement over ‘exaggerated’ Rio Tinto claims

The boss of WA’s peak resources group has unleashed on the Australian Conservation Foundation for grossly exaggerating the amount of bush Rio Tinto is bulldozing for an iron ore project in the Pilbara. A report released this week by Australia’s largest environmental organisation claimed Rio has approval to remove more than 26,000 hectares of threatened species habitat to expand its West Angelas iron ore mine. Rio and its two Japanese joint venture partners are spending about $1.1 billion on the West Angelas expansion, with first ore from the new deposits slated for next year. “The Federal Government (in 2025) approved the destruction of more threatened species habitat in Western Australia than in any other state, 34,752 hectares were approved to be bulldozed, a large portion of which — 26,750 hectares — was for a single iron ore expansion project at West Angelas,” the ACF’s report stated. But Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey said the Federal Government had actually approved habitat clearing for just one-fifth of the ACF’s claimed figure. “The report characterises Commonwealth approval for the legal clearing of 5,350 hectares as a ‘green light’ to ‘bulldoze’ 26,750 hectares of animal habitat, which is a misleading distortion,” he said. The difference in area between the ACF’s claimed figure and actual approved figure equates to roughly 11 times the size of Rottnest Island. “The figures contained in the (ACF’s) report are deliberately exaggerated and lack a sound basis in fact,” Mr Morey said. “These are important issues that deserve the highest standards of integrity and care. Environmental debate is only constructive when facts are presented accurately and claims are made responsibly, not through exaggeration or misrepresentation. “The reality is resources companies operate under rigorous State and Federal laws, work diligently to minimise impacts on flora and fauna and are only granted approvals following robust assessment by independent regulators.” The ACF in response said its figures are “species-specific”, meaning it arbitrarily multiplied the 5350ha of approved vegetation clearing by five, on the basis that five different threatened species could be impacted. The northern quoll, night parrot, ghost bat, Pilbara leaf-nosed bat and Pilbara olive python are the five threatened species in the Pilbara that the ACF references in its report. “Australia has more than 2,000 species listed as threatened under national nature laws. We are seeing rare and unique species like the night parrot lose the equivalent of six Sydney airports worth of habitat,” an ACF spokeswoman said. Rio declined to comment specifically on the ACF’s vegetation clearing claims. “We take a long-term view to protect environmentally significant species and landscapes. This includes mine design and planning to avoid and minimise environmental impacts, greater focus on rehabilitation and offsetting significant residual impacts,” a Rio spokeswoman said. “We undertake research or monitoring of all threatened species in the Pilbara listed in the ACF report. “This is done directly, or in partnership with Government, industry peers or independent researchers, to better understand the population ecology of these important species across the Pilbara.” Former Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt started as the ACF’s chief executive this month.