INOLA, Okla. — The fight over a proposed $4 billion aluminum smelter in Inola is far from over after town trustees extended a moratorium on primary aluminum smelting.
The moratorium will now remain in place through April 7, 2027.
That’s also when Inola voters are expected to decide whether or not to completely ban primary aluminum smelting in town.
For residents who have spent months researching the project and attending town meetings, this extension is not the end of the fight.
“Our work has just started,” said Inola resident Christine Roam. “It’s certainly not over by any means.”
Roam said residents have spent the past eight months researching the project and attending city council meetings.
“It was a wonderful result. We have been doing our research for the last eight months.”
The proposed smelter has also become the subject of a legal dispute.
Oklahoma Primary Aluminum said it plans to pursue legal action over the moratorium extension.
Roam stated, “We are hoping for a positive outcome to the legal battle.”
Meanwhile, other residents said they want more answers as the project continues through the permitting and environmental review process.
Inola resident Beth Richards said she has questions about the changes to the project’s emissions estimates and the technology being proposed.
“If we were being told last year that the best available controlled technology was out there and that’s what we were getting, why has it changed so substantially now? What changed?” Richards asked.
Both Richards and Roam live near the proposed smelter site, but outside of Inola city limits, so they will not be able to vote in the April referendum.
Roam said voters who can participate should take time to review the project’s air permit application and understand its potential emissions.
“I would just ask them to look at the air permit application, at the emissions, to understand what those emissions are, understand the impact of fluoride, understand the impacts of the greenhouse gases.”
Richards also wants to know whether other locations could be considered for the project.
“What other locations were considered and can we still consider them?”
Governor Kevin Stitt continues to support the project.
His office has said changing the rules during the permitting process could undermine the certainty companies need to invest in Oklahoma.
Until the April 7 vote, Inola residents said they plan to continue seeking answers as the legal and permitting processes move forward.
Governor Stitt’s full statement discussing the smelter following the extended moratorium is below:
“For more than a decade, this has been a locally led effort: PSO began preparing for major industrial growth in 2014; Inola zoned this area for heavy industrial use in 2017; and the Port Authority began developing its industrial park in 2019 with the help of State and Federal funding.
In 2023, the Port Authority pursued the competitive RFP process to bring this project to Inola, and the city remained an engaged and active partner in preparing to bring the safest, most modern aluminum facility in the world right here to Oklahoma. The State has since partnered to help protect electricity rates for everyday customers and bring updated infrastructure to the area.
Local voices should continue to speak into the process, but changing the rules in the middle of a multi-year permitting process undermines the certainty job creators need to invest billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs. Oklahoma must remain a state where valid zoning, good-faith negotiations, and established legal processes mean something; this reversal sets a damaging precedent that should be carefully reviewed under our Constitution.”
Original article online at: https://fox23.com/news/local/inola-smelter-fight-continues-after-moratorium-extension-09-15-2026