"Ford’s Electric Pickup Is Built From Metal That’s Damaging the Amazon", 27 February 2023

...The new all-electric model of America’s best-selling pickup truck, the Ford F-150, relies on aluminum to keep it light and give it speed...

Aluminum used to frame the truck’s passenger compartment can be traced back from Ford Motor Co.’s historic Rouge assembly complex in Dearborn, Michigan, to a parts manufacturer in Pennsylvania, to a smelter in Canada and, ultimately, to Brazil. There, in the heart of the Amazon, rust-colored bauxite is being clawed from a mine that has long faced allegations of pollution and land appropriation...[A]...refinery that processes the ore stands accused of sickening thousands of people.

A class-action lawsuit on behalf of 11,000 residents of neighborhoods surrounding that refinery, Hydro Alunorte, names owner Norsk Hydro ASA of Norway as responsible for polluting their rivers and streams. The suit cites toxic mud containing elevated levels of aluminum and other heavy metals, which are byproducts of refining bauxite into alumina, the white powder that becomes aluminum. Alunorte’s actions, it alleges, have caused health problems such as cancer, hair loss, neurological dysfunction, birth defects and increased mortality...

Ford, which made the switch to aluminum from steel for the exterior of the combustion-engine F-150 in 2015, says it uses 682 pounds of the metal in the electric version, not counting what’s in the battery and other pre-assembled components. Much of the aluminum...can also be traced to the Amazon, a Bloomberg News investigation found...

Oslo-based Hydro, whose biggest shareholder is the Norwegian government, was fined 20 million reais ($6.1 million at the time) by Brazilian authorities and ordered to temporarily curtail production at the plant after a discharge of untreated water during a flood in 2018. It later agreed to pay an additional 160 million reais. The company denies any wrongdoing or culpability for the incident and says Alunorte meets all standards for social responsibility, health, safety and the environment...

A spokesperson for Ford said the company is investigating the issues raised by Bloomberg. “Ford is committed to a supply chain that exceeds minimum regulatory compliance requirements and respects human rights, including the right to clean air and clean water,” the spokesperson said...

A spokeswoman for Hydro denied that its operations in Barcarena caused any environmental damage. “The accusation against Hydro and Brazilian entities refers to a mix of alleged events that have not occurred and defined events that occurred, but with limited and no lasting impact at all to the surroundings,” she said. She also said high concentrations of aluminum and other metals in the environment are naturally occurring and aren’t restricted to the area around Alunorte...

Several other plaintiffs also say they have been threatened. Some show burn marks on their legs that they say are from water discharged by Alunorte. A few show pictures of themselves having gone bald, a condition that persisted until they stopped drinking local water...

Hydro’s spokeswoman says the company isn’t stalling. She says Hydro has met many of its obligations, and others are still in progress. And she says the company doesn’t withhold water from its critics. Some people were dropped after joining other support programs, she says. Hydro has also denied any involvement in alleged threats against residents, pointing to a high level of gang violence in the area...

Ford says it cut the weight of each truck by as much as 700 pounds when it switched from steel to aluminum for the combustion-engine version of the F-150 in 2015. At first, Alcoa was the main supplier, but after it split its parts business from its raw materials operations in 2016, other companies stepped up.

Rio Tinto declined to comment about its supply chain, as did Arconic. Alcoa said it sets environmental, human rights and sustainable development metrics for its suppliers. A spokeswoman for Constellium said all of its suppliers are required to sign a code of conduct agreement and abide by a responsible supply chain management policy, and that Rio Tinto is certified by the ASI. Novelis said the same. Ford pointed to its code of conduct and use of ASI certification to verify its supply chain...