2026-08-07T10:06:07.404Z / 路透社
8月7日（路透社）——美国总统唐纳德·特朗普推动在俄克拉荷马州农村地区建设西半球最大铝冶炼厂的计划，已经导致该州共和党选民分裂，并成为这场竞争激烈的下一任州长竞选的关键议题。
将在8月25日角逐本党提名的两名共和党候选人持对立立场，这凸显出部分保守派人士愿意违背特朗普的意愿，并将工业项目作为竞选筹码。
“我不会让这座冶炼厂建起来，”该州总检察长根特纳·德拉蒙德在上月与对手、前州参议员迈克·马泽伊共同出席的候选人论坛上表示，“我们必须保护农田。”
这座耗资40亿美元的冶炼厂项目将是美国自1980年以来的首个同类项目，但它已经遭到了拟建地社区的部分反对。
今年5月，特朗普背书马泽伊参加6月16日的州长初选后，该项目成为了竞选的重大议题。而在特朗普背书他的前一天，马泽伊还反对这座冶炼厂。
德拉蒙德随后几天以总检察长办公室的名义提起诉讼，阻止阿联酋全球铝业公司（Emirates Global Aluminium）和世纪铝业（CENX.O）建设这座冶炼厂。反对者称此举是试图将该项目作为竞选分裂工具。
这一策略奏效了。两名候选人在首轮投票中都未能获得50%的选票，因此不得不进行8月25日的决选。在这个 deeply Republican 州，获胜者很可能赢得11月的大选——过去三届总统选举中，该州近三分之二的选民都支持特朗普，且民主党已有20年未能拿下州长职位。
在已进行的两次决选民调中，一次显示德拉蒙德领先，另一次则显示马泽伊领先。
“德拉蒙德的举动背后显然有政治考量，”俄克拉荷马州立大学政治学教授塞思·麦基说道，“如果他的叙事得当，完全可以凭借这一议题赢得州长竞选。”
特朗普推动更多铝产业布局
拟建的冶炼厂选址在伊诺拉——位于该州第二大城市塔尔萨以东约30英里（48公里）处，年产能将达75万吨铝。
不断增长的铝需求以及特朗普对铝产品征收的50%关税，推动了美国国内铝产业的复苏。
该项目获得了美国能源部5亿美元的拨款，是特朗普提振美国矿产生产计划的核心内容。目前美国使用的铝约有一半依赖进口，其中大部分来自加拿大。
例如，Magnitude 7 Metals正在重新开放密苏里州一座1970年代的冶炼厂，该厂2024年曾停产。不过该冶炼厂在2019年被评为全美污染最严重的工厂。
特朗普6月在其Truth Social平台上表示，德拉蒙德“想要推翻”这个本应是“有史以来最棒的构想之一”的项目，“或是在俄克拉荷马州这个伟大的州建成”。
在接受路透社采访时，德拉蒙德表示他仍是特朗普“在俄克拉荷马州最坚定的盟友”，但却因为“履行职责”保护该州的环境而遭到总统批评。
“当特朗普决定谁倒向他就能获得他的支持和背书时，这件事就成了关键议题，”德拉蒙德告诉路透社，“马泽伊非常乐意出卖俄克拉荷马州的利益。”
经营塔尔萨一家财富管理公司的马泽伊在一份声明中表示，他“很自豪能与特朗普总统站在一起，支持这项他明确表示属于国家安全要务的项目”。马泽伊的竞选团队拒绝了多次采访请求。
环境担忧
德拉蒙德家族经营着一个养牛牧场，他担心冶炼厂会排放空气和水污染物。他将阿联酋全球铝业的所有者——与阿联酋政府相关的主权财富基金——称为“伊斯兰外国君主政权”。
尽管农业在该州国内生产总值中的占比远低于重工业，但牧场主仍是该州的关键投票群体，双方数十年来一直共存。
共和党选民、退休石油交易商托德·摩根表示，他看到了冶炼厂潜在的经济益处，但也担心其对环境和电价的影响——该州电价目前处于全美最低水平之列。
“我确实持观望态度，等待这些问题得到解答，”住在距拟建冶炼厂约20英里处的摩根说道。
任期将满的州长凯文·斯蒂特已经背书马泽伊，他一直致力于将该州打造成美国关键矿产扩张的中心。
“不幸的是，该州总检察长竟使用恐吓策略试图混淆视听、制造议题，仅仅因为他没有获得特朗普的背书，”斯蒂特告诉路透社。
世纪铝业和阿联酋全球铝业表示，他们致力于“达到最高的环境绩效标准”并遵守监管标准，一位发言人补充称，他们将与赢得竞选的任何人合作。
干草污染担忧
这座冶炼厂在伊诺拉引发了强烈反响，这个自称“世界干草之都”的田园社区约有2000名居民。
市议会颁布禁令，暂停发放新建冶炼厂的相关许可，直至9月底，理由是担心排放物会损害牲畜。
美国能源部也一直在敦促选民支持该项目。
“社区里建一座冶炼厂意味着稳定且重要的工作岗位，这些岗位永远不会被人工智能取代，”能源部助理部长奥黛丽·罗伯逊告诉路透社。
罗伯逊6月飞往伊诺拉参加市议会会议，但遭到与会者起哄，他们对冶炼厂的选址提出了其他想法。
“就在马拉戈建！”他们喊道，指的是特朗普在佛罗里达州的私人高尔夫俱乐部。
https://youtu.be/QjXBBfnOfc0?si=-9Lp6YAVHWNe7mB2
Build it in Mar-a-Lago! Trump’s aluminum smelter upends Oklahoma governor’s race
2026-08-07T10:06:07.404Z / Reuters
Aug 7 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to build the Western Hemisphere’s largest aluminum smelter in rural Oklahoma has divided the state’s Republican voters and emerged as a key issue in the contentious race to be the next governor.
The two Republicans who will face off for their party’s nomination on August 25 have taken opposing views, underscoring the willingness of some conservatives to buck Trump and use industrial projects as campaign leverage.
“I’m not going to let it be built,” Gentner Drummond, the state’s attorney general, said at a
candidate forum last month
with his opponent, former state Senator Mike Mazzei. “We have to protect farmland.”
The $4 billion smelter project would be the first in the U.S. since 1980, but it has attracted some opposition from the community where it is slated to be built.
It became a major campaign issue in May after Trump endorsed Mazzei for the June 16 gubernatorial primary. Mazzei had opposed the smelter until the day Trump endorsed him.
Drummond filed a lawsuit from the attorney general’s office days later to block Emirates Global Aluminium and Century Aluminum
(CENX.O)
from building the smelter, a move opponents characterized as an attempt to use the project as a campaign wedge.
The strategy worked. Neither candidate garnered 50% of the first-round vote, forcing an August 25 runoff. The winner is likely to win the November general election in the deeply Republican state, where nearly two-thirds of voters supported Trump in each of the past three presidential elections and where a Democrat has not won the governor’s mansion in 20 years.
Of the two runoff polls conducted, one shows Drummond leading and the other Mazzei leading.
“Politics certainly is behind Drummond’s move,” said Seth McKee, political science professor at Oklahoma State University. “If he frames it right, he could win the governor’s race on this issue.”
TRUMP’S PUSH FOR MORE ALUMINUM
The proposed smelter is slated for Inola — about 30 miles (48 km) east of Tulsa, the state’s second-largest city, and would produce 750,000 metric tons per year of aluminum.
Rising aluminum demand and Trump’s 50% tariff on the metal have helped spark a resurgence inside the U.S.
The project, which received a $500 million U.S. Energy Department grant, is central to Trump’s plans to boost America’s minerals production. Roughly half of the aluminum used in the U.S. is imported, much of it from Canada.
Magnitude 7 Metals, for example, is reopening a 1970s-era smelter in Missouri after closing it in 2024. That smelter, though, was ranked the worst polluter in the country in 2019.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform in June that Drummond “wants to dethrone” a project that would be one of the best-ever conceived “or built in the Great State of Oklahoma.”
In an interview with Reuters, Drummond said he remains Trump’s “biggest ally in Oklahoma,” but that he is being criticized by the president “for doing my job” to protect the state’s environment.
“This became a material issue when Trump decided that whoever flipped would get his support and his endorsement,” Drummond told Reuters. “Mazzei was all too happy to sell out Oklahoma.”
Mazzei, who runs a Tulsa wealth management firm, said in a statement that he is “proud to stand with President Trump and support a project he’s made clear is a national security imperative.” Mazzei’s campaign turned down multiple interview requests.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Drummond, whose family operates a cattle ranch, worries that the smelter would emit air and water pollutants. He has referred to EGA’s owners, sovereign wealth funds tied to the United Arab Emirates government, as an “Islamic foreign monarchy.”
Agriculture contributes far less to the state’s gross domestic product than heavy industry, but ranchers are still a key voting bloc in a state where the two have coexisted for decades.
Todd Morgan, a Republican voter and retired oil trader, said he sees the potential economic benefits of the smelter but has concerns about its effect on the environment and electricity rates, which are among the lowest in the country.
“I’m definitely on the fence, pending answers to those questions,” said Morgan, who lives about 20 miles from the proposed smelter.
Term-limited Governor Kevin Stitt, who has endorsed Mazzei, has pushed to make the state the epicenter of America’s critical minerals expansion.
“It’s very unfortunate that you have the state’s attorney general literally using scare tactics to try and confuse and make this an issue, just because he didn’t get Trump’s endorsement,” Stitt told Reuters.
Century and EGA said they are committed to “meeting the highest standards for environmental performance” and complying with regulatory standards, with a spokesperson adding that they will work with whomever wins the race.
HAY POLLUTION CONCERNS
The smelter has struck a nerve in Inola, a pastoral community of roughly 2,000 residents that bills itself as the “Hay Capital of the World.”
The city council imposed a moratorium on permits for a new smelter through the end of September on concerns that the emissions could harm livestock.
The Energy Department has also been pushing voters to support the project.
“Having a smelter in your community means stable, important jobs that will never be replaced with AI,” Assistant Energy Secretary Audrey Robertson told Reuters.
Robertson flew to Inola for a June city council meeting but was heckled by attendees with other ideas about where to put the smelter.
“Build it in Mar-a-Lago!” they shouted, referring to Trump’s private Florida golf club.
https://youtu.be/QjXBBfnOfc0?si=-9Lp6YAVHWNe7mB2