Inola Residents Challenge Plans for Nation’s Largest Aluminum Smelter
Chris Roam retired to a quiet piece of land near the Port of Inola, where she counted bird species from her porch each morning. In January she learned the largest aluminum smelter in the country was planned for a site a mile away.
Elizabeth Caldwell reports that the facility, majority-owned by Emirates Global Aluminum, a Dubai-based company, with 40% held by Chicago-based Century Aluminum, would be the first smelter of its kind proposed in the United States in nearly 50 years. Gov. Kevin Stitt celebrated the project with President Donald Trump during a trip to the United Arab Emirates last May. Oklahoma has offered $275 million in state funds and $545 million in tax increment financing…