Wearing bright blue tee shirts emblazoned with the words “Stop the Inola Smelter” about two dozen residents from northeast Oklahoma made a lobbying trip to the state capitol this week.
Their goal? To convince legislators to join them in the fight against the $4 billion aluminum smelter proposed to be located near Inola and Tulsa.
“We are not opposed to economic development.” they stated in a social media posting. “We are opposed to environmental disaster disguised as economic development.”
Emirates Global Aluminium based in United Arab Emirates and Century Aluminum based in Chicago are the developers. The state offered millions of dollars in incentives last year to attract the development, which if completed, would be the first aluminum smelter to be built across the U.S. in 50 years.
The companies recently filed their first application for an air quality construction permit from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. The DEQ staff is reviewing the application under the Uniform Environmental Permitting Act and plan a public meeting on Thursday, April 23 at 6 p.m. at the Inola High School.
The Stop the Inola Smelter residents used a social media posting to explain why they are opposed to the project.
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