By Devyn Lyon, FOX23.com News Staff
INOLA, Okla. — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is defending a proposed aluminum production facility in Inola after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a petition seeking to block the project.
In a video posted to social media this week, Stitt argued the facility is critical to national security and domestic manufacturing, tying the project to President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce America’s dependence on foreign aluminum production.
You can watch Gov. Stitt’s video here.
“President Trump believed that Oklahoma was the best state to center this effort when he chose us to build the first aluminum processing facility since 1980,” Stitt said in the video.
The governor said China currently controls nearly 60% of the world’s aluminum production and argued the metal is essential for military equipment ranging from aircraft and warships to ammunition and drone batteries.
Stitt said the proposed Inola facility would be the largest aluminum production plant ever built in the United States and the first of its kind constructed in the country in more than 45 years.
The governor also described the project as part of an “America First” strategy aimed at rebuilding domestic manufacturing and strengthening U.S. supply chains.
“This project in Inola is about getting that back,” Stitt said. “It’s about making sure the equipment that protects our troops and defends our borders is made in America by Americans, for Americans.”
The video comes after Drummond filed a petition challenging the proposed facility, citing concerns about the project’s permitting process and environmental impacts.
Some residents living near the proposed site continue to oppose the project.
Christine Roam, who said the facility would be located roughly 100 yards from her home, told FOX23 she believes the governor’s message overlooks the concerns of families who live in the area.
“I saw Governor Stitt’s video where he is promoting an America First agenda and saying this is what Trump wanted,” Roam said. “My message to him is, what about Americans?”
Roam said she believes industrial development should be directed toward communities that previously hosted aluminum production facilities rather than a rural area known for agriculture.
“An America First agenda, I would think, would take these jobs back to the communities that lost them,” Roam said. “Instead, what Governor Stitt is doing is sacrificing Oklahomans by putting the smelter in the middle of our farms and ranches.”
Roam also raised concerns about potential impacts on local agriculture, ranching operations, and the area’s Amish community.
“The people who live here have chosen to live here for this rural lifestyle,” she said. “We have hundreds of thousands of heads of cattle here. Inola is known as the hay capital of the world.”
Roam said she is particularly concerned about emissions she believes could affect grazing animals and the agricultural economy that supports the region.
“This is what our region is built on,” Roam said. “Having an aluminum smelter that puts out fluoride that is particularly toxic to grazing animals is devastating. It’s devastating to us.”
The debate over the proposed facility continues as state leaders, project supporters and local residents remain divided over whether the project’s economic and national security benefits outweigh concerns about its location and potential environmental impacts.
