‘PIVOTAL

‘PIVOTAL MOMENT’

Ben Felder

The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK

INOLA – Mike Mazzei removed his sport coat and rolled up his sleeves as the late-afternoon sun pushed another Oklahoma day past 100 degrees. After walking about 50 yards along a white gravel road, the Tulsa businessman looked across a parcel of rolling rural land that had become one of the biggest political gambles in his run for governor.

“So, this is it?” said Mazzei, a bit of surprise in his voice, as he looked toward the eastern banks of the Verdigris River, where the Trump administration wants to build the nation’s largest aluminum smelter plant.

For more than a year, the proposed aluminum smelter had divided Inola, a farming community of 1,900 known for its annual Hay Day festival and river port.

Then the small-town debate spilled into Oklahoma’s race for governor.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who led the

The proposed aluminum smelter site in Inola, Oklahoma, is seen in this panoramic photo illustration.

PHOTOS BY NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN

A sign expresses opposition to the planned smelter project in Inola.

June Republican primary, tried to rally rural voters by opposing the plant and suing to halt its construction.

After initially expressing concern, Mazzei became an enthusiastic supporter. In August, he narrowly beat Drummond to secure the Republican nomination. He will face Democrat Cyndi Munson on Nov. 3.

“I believe this is a project that should and will eventually be celebrated as a monumental moment of explosive economic growth; people will see that,” Mazzei told The Oklahoman, as he looked over the site.

But Angela Jungbluth isn’t convinced.

“I felt betrayed,” said Jungbluth from her Inola farm less than a mile from the proposed smelter site.

Any other year, Mazzei, whom Jungbluth saw as more conservative, would have received her vote.

Instead, she voted for Drummond. “I didn’t like Drummond, but I likened it to being in a burning building, and his was the only hand reaching out to me,” Jungbluth said. “If he’s going to save me from the burning building, I’ll vote for the guy.”

Asked if she would vote for Munson, the Democratic candidate who has also opposed the smelter, Jungbluth thought for a moment.

“I don’t know,” she said. While the proposed Inola aluminum smelter has been a flashpoint in the gubernatorial race, it’s also part of a larger inflection point in Oklahoma politics, as rural communities across the state increasingly mobilize against largescale renewable energy developments, high-voltage power line corridors, data centers and other major projects that utilize large amounts of natural resources and alter the state’s farmland.

Environmental issues have traditionally ranked higher among Democratic voters, but recent grassroots efforts have emerged in some of the state’s more Republican communities, as town halls have filled with residents worried about environmental impacts and the loss of a rural lifestyle. Although Drummond lost, evidence suggests the issue swayed voters in Inola.

Oklahoma’s next governor will likely have to navigate more of these concerns as developers continue to target the state’s open spaces.

“We became a political ping-pong ball in a gubernatorial race; who would have ever thought that?” said Scott Devers, Inola’s town administrator, who supports the smelter.

“But I go to functions with other city managers and they’re dealing with their own issues, whether it be data centers or other projects ... we are all kind of learning on the fly how to deal with this.”

In Enid, residents are protesting a proposed1,735-acre data center project, worried it would deplete local water sources and bring unwanted noise.

“Stop the Line” signs are posted along fences in the northeast town of Welch in response to a proposed highvoltage transmission project that would run across farms and homes.

And in Okmulgee, during a Sept. 15 city council meeting, elected officials and residents openly shouted at one another over a proposed data center.

“The mob is not going to rule how we put businesses in there,” said Steve Baldridge, a council member.

“You guys are going to lose your jobs because of this mob,” an audience member responded, according to a video of the meeting.

Seven in 10 Americans oppose data centers in their own community, according to a March Gallup survey. Other surveys have found growing concerns over the impact on electricity prices and water depletion, making it an emerging issue in elections across the country.

Oklahoma lawmakers responded with a new law that requires earlier notification to nearby landowners when projects are proposed that would use large amounts of electricity. There’s also been a push for more laws that would ensure developers pay for needed infrastructure and follow certain water conservation practices.

“If private companies want to build in this state, they need to pay their own way and be good neighbors to the Oklahomans who have lived off this land their whole lives,” said Sen. Grant Green, R-Wellston, who co-authored the Data Center Consumer Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026.

The proposed smelter in Inola would supply aluminum for defense and aerospace industries and is not related to the growing demand for artificial intelligence that is driving data center construction.

But smelter opponents in Inola see it as part of the larger concern over land use and natural resource issues.

“This is a pivotal moment,” said Elizabeth Richards, an Inola resident who opposes the aluminum smelter.

“It’s not just the smelter, it is the data centers and the transmission lines and bringing that control back locally.”

Maureen McKinley, a homeschool mother raising her children on an Inolaarea farm, said she was the most unlikely person to start attending city council meetings before she learned about the smelter project last year.

“I normally hate conflict; I don’t want people to be angry,” McKinley said.

“But the more I looked at it, I saw that it was bad, especially for the people who lived close.”

Inola city officials recently extended a moratorium on the smelter’s construction through April 2027 and approved a petition to hold a town-wide vote on whether to build the plant.

But some city and state leaders, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, say it will only lead to more legal battles and the plant’s ultimate construction.

President Donald Trump has called the smelter critical for national security. He endorsed Mazzei shortly after he publicly supported the project.

While the president has long enjoyed strong support in Oklahoma, some Inola residents said that has changed, especially since 60% of the proposed smelter would be owned by United Arab Emirates-backed companies.

“Trump ran on the platform that he would protect American farmers, that he’s pro-American jobs and bringing industry back to America,” said Julianne Flathers, who lives in Inola.

“But he’s doing all this in favor of a foreign corporation with a project that will hurt American families and American farms.”

Most political observers predict a comfortable general election win for Mazzei, who doesn’t believe opposition to data centers, the proposed smelter and other land-use projects will have much of an impact. Registered Republicans in Oklahoma outnumber Democrats 2 to 1.

“Any technological leap or revolution involves questions and concerns,” Mazzei told The Oklahoman. “Now, the great thing about America is you’ve got all of these bright, innovative people that have learned how to handle new technologies, new economic development projects with the right protocols that create safety and confidence for the people of Oklahoma.

“After the careful study and evaluation we’ve done, I know we can handle the Oklahoma primary aluminum plant in the right way that completely protects the community,” Mazzei added.

While Mazzei said he would ensure a third-party entity reviews all of the safety and environmental standards for the aluminum smelter before allowing it to proceed, Munson is completely against the project.

“My concern was just the size (of the plant) in Inola and the impact it would be on the land and water,” Munson told The Oklahoman. “Rural communities want better job opportunities, but at what cost? That’s the question more people are asking themselves.”

Munson, a state House member from Oklahoma City, said she also wants to halt new data center projects across the state, a position she said is popular in many rural communities.

“I get the most claps when I talk about wanting to put a moratorium on data center construction,” Munson said.

“I could not have envisioned that it would be this much of a conversation in the governor’s race, but people are more cognizant of land and water and our natural resources.”

Flathers, the Inola resident opposed to the smelter, said she expects the project to affect local voters in November.

“I know a lot of lifelong Republicans who are planning, if (Mazzei) continues his support of the smelter, to vote for Munson, and that will be their first time ever voting Democrat,” Flathers said. “And I’ve also heard people who are talking about abstaining entirely from voting this time, because they don’t like either of them.”

“It’s not just the smelter, it is the data centers and the transmission lines and bringing that control back locally,” says Inola resident Elizabeth Richards, who opposes the smelter.

NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN