Oklahoma’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond on Tuesday filed a petition to block an aluminum smelter from being built at the Port of Inola, citing environmental and public nuisance concerns.

The complaint, filed in the Rogers County District Court, targets Emirates Global Aluminum and Century Aluminum, which seek to construct a primary aluminum production complex with a capacity of 750,000-plus metric tons per year — making it the largest smelter in the United States and the first one built since 1980.

The $4 billion project has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state grants and incentives, and was first announced in May 2025.

In the complaint, Drummond argued that primary aluminum smelting is one of the “most polluting heavy-industrial activities known,” raising emissions, water contamination and resource consumption concerns.

The smelter would occupy 350 acres along the Verdigris River and be within three miles of Inola’s schools, homes and farms, according to the 12-page petition. It is expected to draw more than 1,000 megawatts of continuous electricity and, citing a pending air-quality permit application, be authorized to emit more than a ton of hydrogen fluoride per day.

“A primary aluminum smelter does not belong in a community’s backyard, and its emissions do not respect property lines,” Drummond said in a statement, adding that winds could carry pollutants into the surrounding northeastern Oklahoma communities. Nearby cattle could also suffer from fluorosis, a type of dental condition that wears on the enamel and makes it difficult to eat, according to the petition.

“The injury is imminent, it is grave, and it is irreparable,” he said.

The petition came months after the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality began its review of the smelter project. It also came days after President Donald Trump endorsed former state Sen. Mike Massei to be Oklahoma’s governor instead of Drummond.

Century Aluminum, which has a 40% stake in the project, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Drummond raised national security concerns about EGA’s controlling ownership in the project, saying in the petition that the smelter belongs to a “foreign sovereign more than seven thousand miles away.”

Following the petition, Oklahoma Primary Aluminum, the joint venture between EGA and Century Aluminum, said the project is still in its initial development phase and will continue to incorporate feedback and requirements resulting from the state’s environmental review.

“The facility will utilize real-time emissions monitoring, enclosed material handling systems and other environmental safeguards designed to protect workers, neighbors, farms and wildlife,” the joint venture said in an emailed statement. It expects the plant to be “the most modern aluminum plant in the world.”

Oklahoma Primary Aluminum plans to purchase electricity from the grid and is negotiating a power agreement with the Public Service Company of Oklahoma. The project is expected to create at least 1,000 permanent jobs and support thousands of indirect and construction jobs.

The petition added fuel to the ongoing feud between Gov. Kevin Stitt and Drummond, who are in the middle of a legal defamation battle and state audit dispute. They have also clashed over tribal hunting and gaming rights. Stitt described Drummond’s latest action as a “cheap political gimmick” used for “personal gain.”

“As soon as President Trump made his endorsement in the governor’s race, Attorney General Drummond dropped the act and showed his true colors,” Stitt said in a statement. “Now he is turning his machine against one of President Trump’s top priorities, once again weaponizing his office to settle scores instead of serving Oklahomans.”

The proposed facility received a grant of up to $500 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to underwrite the smelter’s construction costs and Oklahoma awarded an incentives package of $255 million. The project aligns with the Trump administration’s efforts to boost U.S. aluminum and steel production through a comprehensive tariff strategy and increased domestic investment.

Drummond’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved