Under Corporate Skies: A Struggle Between People, Place, and Profit
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Under Corporate Skies: A Struggle Between People, Place, and Profit
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781921696473 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Fremantle Press |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 316 |
| File size: | 10 MB |
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Under Corporate Skies
A Struggle Between People, Place and Profit
By Martin Brueckner, Dyann Ross
Fremantle Press
Copyright © 2010 Martin Brueckner and Dyann RossAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-921696-47-3
CHAPTER 1
A SMALL TOWN AND ITS CORPORATE NEIGHBOUR
YARLOOP AND ALCOA
The town of Yarloop, home to approximately 600 residents, is located in Western Australia's rich agricultural country on the fertile coastal plain between the Darling Range and the Indian Ocean, about 125 km south of Perth, the state capital. The town was once the cherished home of its residents who saw in it a 'slice of paradise', as some locals recalled:
It's just a beautiful little spot ... It's just idyllic. It's a very pretty town and it had everything we wanted. You really couldn't want much more. (Yarloop resident)
Just so different from Perth. Quiet, nice little community. Green, clean, just the sort of place you want to go to get away from Perth and the stress of big business. (Yarloop resident)
White settlers first arrived in Yarloop in 1849 and their industry heralded Yarloop's long and proud history as a timber town. The town later also became known for its large steam engine works.
Many of the Yarloop residents who feature in this book have a long-standing connection and history with the town. Unsurprisingly, ties such as these help create a strong sense of place and belonging.
Yeah, my grandfather was there and my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. Yeah, it goes back a long way. (Yarloop resident)
Dad's family came there in 1910, 1911. Mum was born in Yarloop. They came in 1906, so 100 years of history we have associated with that town. It's very hard to walk away from. (former Yarloop resident)
The town has been much loved by its long-term residents for its strong sense of community.
The social connection, the friendship, the people looking after each other, the way this town was close and worked together. If someone had a problem, there was always someone there to help you out or look out for you. (Yarloop resident)
... even though it wasn't a huge community it was a very strong community and the sort of community where everybody knew everybody; everybody looked after one another ... (Yarloop resident)
Then in 1984 Alcoa's Wagerup alumina refinery began operations, only two kilometres from Yarloop. Alcoa is one of the world's largest producers of aluminium. The US based company oversees operations in more than forty countries and employs close to 130,000 people globally. In Australia, the company trades under the name of Alcoa World Alumina Australia. It operates two smelters and a power station in Victoria, aluminium rolling mills and recycling plants in Victoria and New South Wales, and three alumina refineries and two bauxite mines in Western Australia.
In Western Australia, Alcoa's workforce of about 4000 people produces around 7 million tonnes of alumina each year, accounting for 13 per cent of total world demand and resulting in export earnings of around A$2.8 billion. Alcoa prides itself on being a significant contributor to the Western Australian economy as well as a socially and environmentally repsonsible business. The company's achievements in these areas are recognised both nationally and internationally.
THE CONFLICT
Since the mid-1990s, residents and Alcoa workers have reported symptoms such as frequent blood noses, headaches and nausea. No causal link has been formally established between the refinery's emissions and people's health, and the matter has been the subject of much local, national and international media coverage, even a Parliamentary Inquiry. The conflict between the community and the corporation has prompted numerous research projects and given rise to sustained local activism. The Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs held an inquiry into a wide range of concerns raised by community members. The issues that formed the terms of reference for the inquiry (reported in 2004) are shown below, together with recent statements by residents demonstrating that the issues are not yet resolved.
Public health
And my skin, I get burnt. It's like a radiation thing. You also have bladder problems and it affects your bowel, it affects your moods, it affects your skin, see my skin is horrible. I can't explain; my stomach is always sore after I've been outside and stuff has come on me. (Cookernup resident)
Loss of amenity
There was the pub, there were the shops. There was a butcher, hairdresser, and it was a real community. You could walk around it and the grandchildren would come down, and then you just watched it all disappear. (Yarloop resident)
Social impacts
So this whole town has been fragmented, it's been divided, you call it whatever you want, but it doesn't even have 10 per cent of what we used to have as a community, and we had a very strong community here. (Yarloop resident)
Alcoa's land management strategy
When Alcoa made their buffer zones, they put this dividing line in and then they made two, three classes of people. Area A was looked after ... But the B area people were only offered market value. The C area [people] weren't offered anything. So there was infighting, the town people on one side of the fence were fighting the other side of the fence. So that's the beginning of all the changes. (Yarloop resident)
Responses to community concerns by Alcoa and successive state governments over the last decade have only served to increase the intensity of the distrust. Initiatives taken by the company were met with suspicion by locals, for they felt that:
... [The company] tried to cover up exactly what was happening; they tried to say that it was safe; that there was nothing to worry about. (Yarloop resident)
Suspicions were further heightened by the way in which the company was seen to engage with the community and to respond to its concerns:
They came in and they dish[ed] out promises and promises, but they're lies and lies and lies. They end up doing what they want. They're a bully. They kick the little guys when they're down, and there's no compassion at all there. (Yarloop resident)
Many residents felt betrayed by their elected leaders in state government who they thought:
... were supposed to be watchdogs. They're supposed to be protecting the basic rights of their citizens. And it's the UN that said ... that it's a basic human right to have a clean environment to live and work in. And I think the government is there too, yes, to see that our society stays afloat, that its economy should be looked after, granted. Development needs to be sustainable. They need not be short-sighted. But, certainly, the rights of their taxpayers and their residents need to be protected. The environment needs to be protected. And if you look at what's happened down here, they have failed miserably. (Yarloop resident)
Residents took exception to the fact that their concerns appeared to be downplayed by the authorities. It seemed that 'the corporate dollar was outweighing the health of the community and the environment' (Yarloop resident).
Events are still unfolding in Yarloop. In 2006 the state government approved a major expansion at the Wagerup refinery — despite community concerns and reservations voiced by the WA Health Department as well as independent medical experts. The decision was announced by the former Minister for the Environment, Mark McGowan:
I have decided to grant environmental approval to the expansion of the refinery subject to 42 conditions dealing with project design, emissions, noise, dust, water management and residue disposal. The conditions I am proposing are more stringent than those recommended by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and will make the refinery one of the most tightly regulated in the world.
Scores of local submissions to the EPA against the expansion referred to loss of social amenity, harm from fear and the effects of pollution, as well as concern for devalued assets and loss of family and friends from the area. One example is provided here in full to convey the emotional upheaval experienced by local residents.
Local Residents' Submission Against Alcoa Wagerup's Expansion
23 July 2005
We wish to let our views and concerns be known about Alcoa's efforts to get an expansion at its Wagerup refinery. This is totally unacceptable to us and threatens our sense of safety and wellbeing after what has already been years of adverse social and health impacts from the refinery.
We lived in the northern fringe of Yarloop happily for many years until Alcoa installed the liquor burner in 1996. Since that time Kay has suffered quite debilitating health effects from direct exposure to airborne pollution from the refinery. Alcoa staff have even witnessed her vomiting and her distress when responding to our complaints. We have kept a detailed logbook of all the times we have lodged a complaint with Alcoa, each time corresponding with personal suffering on my part in witnessing my wife's failing health. There was a period when I was really concerned I was going to lose Kay due to the deterioration in her health. She became trapped in the house, which is no way to live.
Neither of us wanted to move from our home and close contact with long-term friends in Yarloop. But as Kay was so unable to lead a normal life we had no choice than to eventually take up Alcoa's offer to sell to them. We bitterly resent having had to do this and haven't yet recovered from the loss of our home in Yarloop. We are now living in Cookernup and, with all this talk of an expansion at Wagerup, are experiencing a heightened fear that we will now be impacted here as well.
In the last month I have had several nosebleeds which is very alarming as I haven't had any since leaving Yarloop. One of the nosebleeds occurred when I was visiting a friend in Yarloop. We are worried that it will continue and get worse for us and it doesn't make sense that Alcoa says the expansion will not result in an increase in noise, air pollution and the like. As it currently is, it's a problem so we can't in good conscience believe them that it won't be in the future.
Not only have we lost many of our friends who felt they had to leave for their own safety and to protect their financial interests but we still find many of our conversations in the community dominated by talk of Alcoa. This industry is impacting too much on our everyday lives and is much too determined to have its own way at our expense. There is already plenty of evidence that Alcoa and the government are aware of the social impacts of the refinery operations on these communities. What seems to be happening is a quick patch-up by throwing some money to some community groups and thinking this fixes everything. It is much too soon to be expecting those of us who have been so seriously threatened by Alcoa to be presuming an expansion is acceptable. People and communities need to feel safe and able to survive with the current levels of production before an expansion is even considered. That there is an increase of large proportions in their production already happening leaves us disturbed. How is this happening even before the current application is heard?
We are also alarmed at the West's report of a spill at Wagerup this week. This is no surprise to us and we suspect the delay in them reporting their claim that it wasn't, according to their judgement, a risk is political, as the last thing they want at the moment is such adverse public attention.
We are concerned that the little people who are most impacted and least able to run weekly advertising programs about our experiences (compared with Alcoa in recent months, promoting their credentials and how good the expansion will be for us all) will not be heard. Alongside this we have no confidence that Alcoa knows how to be good neighbours to those of us who are badly impacted.
It can't be left to them to say what we need and what the social initiatives they can provide are. They have yet to fix the problem and yet are pushing for an expansion for purely economic reasons. This feels to us like a blatant disregard for recent history and the continuing controversy about the social impact in this area. We are just one example of how the situation is still affecting local folks.
Despite widespread opposition and the many public submissions echoing the local concerns captured above, the expansion was approved in September 2006. The company welcomed the approval by the state government, speaking of a win-win outcome for both Alcoa and regional communities.
Green light for alumina refinery expansion
Alcoa World Alumina Australia Managing Director, Wayne Osborn, said the planned expansion of Alcoa's Wagerup alumina refinery will provide major social and economic benefits for Western Australia. Speaking after the WA government today gave formal environmental approval for the project to proceed, Mr Osborn said the expansion would create over 1500 construction jobs as well as 3000 direct and indirect jobs, including 260 new permanent Alcoa jobs.
'Alcoa has committed to implementing the expansion with no increase in noise, dust or odour impacts, and extensive scientific investigations have shown both the existing and expanded refinery are safe for our employees and neighbouring communities,' Mr Osborn said. 'Regional businesses and communities would also reap the benefits of significantly increased local spending. The Wagerup refinery already spends over A$40 million a year with businesses in the local area and this will rise sharply.'
GLOBAL AND REGIONAL BENEFITS — THE LOCAL COSTS
The stories presented in this book convey competing perceptions — by town residents, company personnel and government spokespeople — of gains and losses as well as acceptable risk. Government approval of Alcoa's expansion dovetails with its agenda to drive economic growth in the state — hardly controversial since economic development is assumed to improve the human lot, a notion which, to this day, has largely gone unchallenged. Undeniably, Australia is enjoying record levels in household income and historically low levels of unemployment, both attributable to strong economic growth. Unsurprisingly therefore, both Alcoa and the state government — each operating under the banner of a self-professed sustainability framework — emphasise the economic benefits of the refinery and its expansion. Within their respective frameworks, economic growth is largely seen uncritically as a catalyst for regional sustainability.
According to Alcoa's former CEO, Wayne Osborn, the 'Wagerup expansion would ... provide over A$11 million a year in extra state government revenue' and result in an increase in community funding 'to support local infrastructure and projects in the Harvey and Waroona Shires.' In fact, Osborn says, 'Alcoa's A$400,000 a year contribution would almost double under the expansion'. Alcoa portrays itself as a company that is helping build a sustainable future: 'Alcoa is committed to contributing to positive sustainable outcomes for the communities of the south west region. During the life of the Wagerup refinery, Alcoa has helped establish a long-term sustainable future for Waroona, Yarloop, Hamel, Harvey and the region through its contribution to:
• local infrastructure and services
• local community organisations
• local and regional development
• regional and state infrastructure, and
• community based education and training'.
The state government supported the refinery's expansion with the aim of pursuing 'jobs and opportunities for Western Australians, but not at any cost.' The government claimed that 'the wellbeing of people in Yarloop and surrounds [had] been central to [their] thinking'. Moreover, 'the assessment of the Wagerup proposal was [said to have been] the most complex undertaken by the [Environmental Protection] Authority (EPA),' because of 'the plant's history of health-related complaints.' The conditions placed on the expansion were said to be the 'most stringent conditions the EPA has recommended for any industrial or mining project in Western Australia'.
In the shadow of promises of economic gain and environmental protection however are social and environmental indicators that highlight the side effects of uncontrolled development. Local communities, like canaries in the coal mines, are the first to detect perceptible risks to human wellbeing. In Yarloop, residents have detected some of the impacts of development in their community. Many recognise the economic benefits of industrialisation; they are not simply anti-development. Based on their experiences with the Wagerup refinery, however, they are concerned about development that brings regional and global benefits at local costs.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Under Corporate Skies by Martin Brueckner, Dyann Ross. Copyright © 2010 Martin Brueckner and Dyann Ross. Excerpted by permission of Fremantle Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Cover,Title Page,
Copyright,
ERIN BROCKOVICH,
PREFACE,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
INTRODUCTION,
A SMALL TOWN AND ITS CORPORATE NEIGHBOUR,
THE PATHOLOGY OF INDUSTRY – COMMUNITY RELATIONS,
LOCAL STORIES ABOUT REGIONAL (UN)SUSTAINABILITY,
THE CORPORATION'S PUBLIC STORY,
SMALL GOVERNMENT AND BIG BUSINESS,
SUSTAINABILITY DOUBLESPEAK,
TOWARDS A JUST ETHIC OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PROFIT,
NOTES,
REFERENCES,