> “Protect Our Farms. #StopTheInolaSmelter,” reads the text below the image, splashed across a billboard towering over one of the main highways to this prairie town (population: 1,890.) The smelter in question: a $4 billion aluminum processing plant touted by President Donald Trump as part of his push to revive the industry in the US.
> In a June 29 letter, Trump urged the town’s council to approve the project “without delay, so that together we may strengthen our national security, supercharge our economy, and lead our Nation boldly into a new Golden Age of American greatness.”
> Instead, the five-person board of trustees for Inola, located just east of Tulsa, voted unanimously that day to impose a moratorium on the project. The smelter, a joint venture between the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC and Chicago-based Century Aluminum Co., would be the first new US plant in nearly 50 years to process aluminum that’s derived from raw material rather than recycled.
> Opponents of the plant say they’re afraid toxic emissions from the facility will damage agricultural land in Inola, which has dubbed itself the “Hay Capital the World” in a nod to the prized Bluestem prairie grass that grows there. There’s also concern that the plant’s intensive power needs will drive up electricity prices. The controversy has surfaced in the Oklahoma governor’s race, with one candidate in the upcoming Republican primary supporting the project and the other opposing it.
Oklahoma AG asks federal court to halt construction of Oklahoma aluminum smelter - https://oklahomavoice.com/2026/08/11/ag-asks-federal-court-t... - August 11th, 2026