If you want to understand politics in Oklahoma this year, start in Inola.
That’s where Kevin Stitt’s administration has spent the last twelve months, promoting what could become the largest aluminum smelter in the United States- a $4 billion industrial project backed primarily by Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) a company controlled by sovereign wealth interests in the United Arab Emirates, an Islamic state in the Middle East. The proposed facility would be built at the Tulsa Port of Inola, located just east of Oklahoma’s second largest metropolitan area and would be 60% owned by EGA and 40% owned by Century Aluminum, a Chicago based company.
Supporters call it economic growth, critics call it corporate welfare on an unprecedented scale, with $500 million being provided by the Department of Energy and over $250 million of proposed incentives offered from the State of Oklahoma. Everyone acknowledges the potentially hazardous environmental impact, which does not respect property lines and could potentially pollute the nearby Verdigris River, Inola and surrounding areas.
Mike Mazzei stood in strong opposition just a few months ago.
Mazzei then flip flopped last Friday, the morning after his disastrous performance in a Gubernatorial debate, but just HOURS before he received a coveted endorsement from President Donald Trump.
The optics of events surrounding Mazzei’s fabulous flip and Trump’s endorsement are obvious. Mike Mazzei is a bought and paid for politician, as was Trump’s endorsement, which was orchestrated by none other than the notorious Roger Stone, who Mazzei has paid $67,500 in the months leading up to this deal.
You could easily feign innocence about the payments, had Stone not openly acknowledged the connection on X.
With the smelting project cast into the limelight, Gentner Drummond promptly acted this week, by filing a a lawsuit that graphically lays out the environmental impact of smelting aluminum and potential hazards to the nearby Verdigris River, town of Inola and surrounding areas, to include Tulsa, stating in his press conference, “There’s a reason these smelting plants primarily exist in unpopulated desert areas.’ The proposed smelter will require 1000 megawatts of continuous electric power and releasing almost 50X the normal allowed maximum of pollutants into and upon the local environment.
You don’t have to be a tree hugging environmentalist to appreciate how devastating this could be to area residents, livestock and wildlife that rely on the Verdigris River. It’s also not hard to find examples of problems surrounding pollutants produced by smelting plants, to include: perflourocarbons, fluoride emissions, sulfur dioxide, CO2 and greenhouse gases, water pollution and toxic waste.
But enough about the environment, let’s follow the other green issue, the MONEY. All the profits will leave the state of Oklahoma, yet taxpayers will bear the risk. Let’s at least find out who’s getting paid here. Anonymous sources indicate Kevin Stitt is uniquely interested, and some of the same players from the recent Invest in Oklahoma debacle are involved. This is a dirty business, and this appears to possibly be a very dirty deal. It smells like Stitt.
Which brings me back to asking why Mike Mazzei suddenly found this proposed project to be in Oklahoma’s best interest, or was his flip flop simply conditional to getting Trump?
Did Mike Mazzei sell Oklahoma down a polluted river? Again, this is an example of Gentner Drummond standing up for Oklahomans, versus selling out to special interests and power.
Oklahoma should take note on June 16 and vote for our interests, not Donald Trump’s, Kevin Stitt’s or for Mike Mazzei.
This smelter is 5 miles from 75,000 residents of East Broken Arrow and it will pollute the Verdigris River which Broken Arrow 120,000 population still uses as drinking water. Within three miles of the smelter location is a huge META data center under construction. The answer to the smelter must be no. One large energy glutton and polluter is enough for Broken Arrow. I suggest that Broken Arrow voters say no in upcoming elections to anyone supporting this pollution nightmare.