Gramercy alumina refinery plans to monitor water, soil for ‘red mud’ contamination

This article is part of a series on the environmental costs of America’s last remaining alumina refinery.

The Atlantic Alumina refinery near Gramercy has filed a plan to test for contaminants in the soil and groundwater around its facility after multiple instances of industrial waste spewing from its containment lakes into drainage ditches that lead to a popular fishing area. 

The company, also known as Atalco Gramercy, submitted what’s known as a site investigation work plan Jan. 30 to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality as part of its agreement with the agency to correct dozens of environmental violations state and federal inspectors have documented over the past two years.  

The purpose of the plan is to determine the extent of any contamination from unauthorized discharges and runoff of the toxic “red mud” byproduct created when bauxite is refined into alumina. The waste material has eroded the giant levees around Atalco’s containment lakes, killing vegetation along its path through the local drainage system that flows to the Blind River Swamp of Lake Maurepas.

Initial lab analysis found the sludge contained known carcinogens, such as cadmium, chromium and arsenic, and other highly corrosive chemicals at levels far beyond what’s considered safe by state and federal standards, according to a 606-page LDEQ inspection report. 

Atalco plans to hire Leaaf Environmental of Gretna to assess the potential for groundwater and soil contamination. 

Calls and messages seeking comment from Atalco and Leaaf were not returned this week. A worker who answered the phone at the Atalco refinery hung up after the caller identified himself as a reporter.

The investigation work plan calls for drilling 16-foot-deep holes to sample soil near the red mud lakes and where some of the erosion channels formed in the levees. A geologist will screen for lead every 2 feet using a handheld analyzer and then collect samples for lab testing for a wide spectrum of heavy metals. The soil sample borings will then be converted into temporary groundwater monitoring wells, from which samples will also go to a lab for testing.

The lab will screen for heavy metals using Louisiana’s most stringent soil and water quality standards, according to Atalco’s proposal. 

Professor Susan Richardson, an environmental analytical chemistry researcher at the University of South Carolina, reviewed the investigation work plan at the Illuminator’s request. She noted it calls for comparing the water samples to the Environmental Protection Agency’s highest quality levels set, meaning the testing should identify even slight amounts of contamination. 

“This is great news,” Richardson said.  

Caustic waste leaks were first discovered at Atalco in August 2024 and continued for months before the company contained them, state and federal records show. State inspectors found additional leaks and erosion channels about nine months later, prompting the Department of Environmental Quality to cite the company for more violations. 

Atalco agreed, without admitting to any wrongdoing, to have the state agency monitor its work to fix the underlying issues and remediate any impacts to the environment. The state hasn’t yet decided whether to levy any fines. 

Site investigation work plans are common following major environmental incidents. Regulators often require them as a precursor to determining the best course of action to decontaminate an impacted area and prevent future pollution events.   

The work plan is currently under review, and a start date will be set once the plan is approved, LDEQ press secretary Meagan Molter said.

Atalco faces new citations stemming from an Oct. 8 LDEQ inspection when the agency documented six violations. Most involved the company’s failure to maintain operation records under its air permit, though one was a repeat of a violation related to its red mud lakes that the company failed to properly inspect, according to the LDEQ report. 

On Feb. 10, LDEQ issued Atalco a warning letter addressing the violations. 

Atalco’s refinery occupies roughly 3 square miles of land where St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes meet on the Mississippi River’s east bank. Opened in 1958 as Kaiser Aluminum, the Gramercy facility is the only remaining bauxite refinery in the United States and its only domestic source of the critical metal feedstock. 

While the Department of Environmental Quality continues to scrutinize Atalco, other government officials are helping the company expand. 

In January, Atalco’s Bermuda-based owner, Concord Resources Holdings Ltd., announced it has signed an agreement with the Trump administration to increase Atalco’s refinery operations under a U.S. Department of Defense contract.  

Once the expansion is complete, the plant is expected to add 500 jobs to annually produce more than 1 million metric tons of alumina per year and up to 50 metric tons of gallium, a metal used to make semiconductors. The U.S. currently imports nearly all of its gallium, but the Gramercy facility would produce it from the bauxite it refines into alumina.