Keith Shipton is no stranger to the long game, his five year battle with mining corporation ALCOA speaks to this.
But now, with an established lobby group and a possible end in sight, Keith is ready to move on with his life and pass the torch to a new generation that’s joining the fight.
It was a regular morning walk in September of 2010 that changed the course of the 69-year-old Anglesea resident’s life.
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“It was a crystal-clear morning,” Keith said recalling the moment he came across one of the biggest fish kills in the local river’s history.
It was a “horrific” vision, one that he “could not get out of his head”. Thousands of dead fish had floated to the surface after the pH level of the river became acidic.
Once home, he began to research the river, he knew something wasn’t right.
A few years later, a mutual friend introduced Keith to Richard O’Hanlon, citing their joint “obsession” with the river.
Richard was an engineer who “clearly had the smarts” and professional skills to collect and study the river’s data himself. He had worked on mine sites throughout his life including the Anglesea ALCOA site in the 1980s.
“We were both thinking along the same lines, “This is unusual, what the hell is going on,” ” Keith said.
After keeping a quiet eye on the river for almost 10 years, the pair came across Melbourne University Professor of Environmental Geochemistry, Ralf Haese in mid 2020. It was a critical development.
Professor Haese had linked ALCOA’s long-term “exploitation” of an aquifer beneath the Anglesea River to its ongoing acidic pH levels.
“Think a big underground deposit of water.” Keith said when explaining what an aquifer is.
American corporation ALCOA began mining for coal in Anglesea in 1969, using the aquifer’s water, known as groundwater, to generate steam and electricity. This continued until the mines closure in 2015.
Professor Haese contends that ALCOA’s 46 years of groundwater extraction caused the aquifer’s water level to drop from near the surface to around 70 metres below sea level; a decline ALCOA acknowledges. He further argues, that this drop has dried out the swamplands feeding the Anglesea River, leading to the current acidic surface soils.
“That was kind of the piece of the jigsaw that started to point the finger at ALCOA,” Keith said.
The pair talked to the ‘old timers’ of Anglesea who made clear the fish kills were a new thing. The river had been a famous fishing destination throughout the 20th century. Longtime resident Tom McGrath said dropping bread into the river in the ‘80s was like “Piranha feeding. You could drop a line in and catch a fish any day of the week.”
After ALCOA completed a 12-month groundwater pumping test in May 2021, Keith and Richard began ramping up activism through their Friends of Anglesea River (FoAR) group, determined not to let pumping resume and the river’s condition worsen.
Since then, the Facebook group has amassed over 800 members and can be credited with helping knock back ALCOA’s 2022 groundwater pumping proposal.
So why does ALCOA need the groundwater again, years after closure?
They contend that to rehabilitate the mine pit and hand the “asset” back to the community, filling it with water is the best option. Using water from the aquifer, ALCOA said they can fill the pit in 10 years as opposed to the 30 to 50 it could take to fill naturally.
FoAR and Professor Haese maintain this will not only push the river’s pH level more acidic, but create an “acid lake” in the former mine pit that will never recover.
“The reality is a toxic lake is not an asset… ALCOA will be long gone and we will be left with… a dead river here and an acid lake in our hinterland.”
“We’ve had good support from the Anglesea community and increasingly less opposition,” Keith said.
He sees the support of the Surf Coast Shire as FoAR’s “biggest victory”. The council passed a motion in June 2022 requiring ALCOA to “categorically prove” that their groundwater extraction had no effect on the river before they could resume.
“It was a very brave thing for them to do,” he said. “Government agencies do not like to be seen out of lockstep.”
Relevant agencies Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, Southern Rural Water (SRW) and Barwon Water have since signalled increasing support for Professor Haese and FoAR’s contention, however the “large and influential” Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) “still seems to support ALCOA’s plans” Keith said.
Despite intensive advocacy and various “successes” over the past five years, Keith is focused on the next and hopefully final battle of FoAR’s campaign.
Southern Rural Water, who will assess ALCOA’s current application to resume pumping, will open to community consultation in May.
“We need as many opposing submissions as possible,” Keith said. He wants pressure on DEECA and Minister for Climate Action of Victoria Lily D’Ambrosio to “stand up to ALCOA”.
According to an ALCOA spokesperson, the recent ‘formal groundwater license‘ application is backed by four years of “technical work completed by expert consultants”.
The spokesperson said “rigorous scientific and technical testing has indicated that the acidity of the Anglesea River is influenced by naturally occurring factors” and filling the mine with water was the “most suitable option” to ensure a “safe and stable landform”.
Community consultation as recent as May 2024 was met with feedback that was “generally positive” they said, something FoAR flatly disputes.
ALCOA did not comment directly on FoAR’s contention or activism.
A DEECA spokesperson said “All agencies understand the importance of the river to the Anglesea community” but did not comment on the contended link between the river’s health and ALCOA’s groundwater pumping.
“You have a limited shelf life” Keith said of his 14 years of activism. “Paid public servants wear you down.”
“If we get ALCOA’s application knocked back by SRW and groundwater extraction brought to a permanent end, job done, let’s get on with the rest of our lives.”
When asked if he’s hopeful about the future of the river, he sidesteps the question. “Our second biggest victory is the recent influx of young people joining the fight.”
“I all of a sudden feel like we have some real firepower… their energy is just fantastic.”
SRW’s decision regarding the application is expected in the coming months.
Lily D’Ambrosio was contacted but did not respond.
You can follow Friends of Anglesea River on Facebook and Instagram.
