BOONVILLE – Alcoa still plans to restart its smelter in Warrick County next year but is fighting new coal mining regulations passed by the Boonville City Council.
Three shuttered smelter lines at Alcoa Warrick Operations are expected to return online in the second quarter of 2018, according to the company. The company has promised about 275 jobs. A planned expansion of Liberty Mine will provide coal resources to fuel the smelter.
The new City Council ordinance, however, bans mining for coal, gas, oil or other minerals within Boonville or areas within 3 miles of the city.
It further forbids “blasting or the use of explosives in the excavation of land or removal of materials from below the surface of the earth” within 1,000 feet of city utilities.
Mayor Charlie Wyatt said the new rules were needed to protect the city’s residents and utility infrastructure.
“We’re tickled to death (about the smelter restarting),” said Wyatt, who noted he’s a former Alcoa employee. “But also, as the mayor of Boonville, I have some responsibilities now to look after the citizens. That’s my number one concern right now.”
The Liberty Mine expansion plan meets or exceeds all safeguards required by law to protect public safety and infrastructure, said Jim Beck, an Alcoa spokesman.
The company conducted a public hearing in July and says it has stayed in touch with residents who live near the location.
Wyatt, however, still has concerns.
He said Indiana Department of Natural Resources regulations require a buffer between mining operations and homes, but that buffer is only 300 feet.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in Southwest Indiana that wants a mine 300 feet from their property,” Wyatt said. “There’s all sorts of horror stories about blasts from mining. We think as elected representatives of Boonville that we need to our utilities and residents’ homes. We don’t want anybody to have to take on Alcoa by themselves.”
Wyatt said there is “room for compromise” between the DNR’s rule of a 300-foot buffer and the far larger ones in Boonville’s ordinance, and “we’re willing to negotiate the difference.”
Alcoa officials say the Town of Chandler this year passed an ordinance similar to Boonville’s but later revoked it.
Company representatives attended a Dec. 7 meeting of the Boonville City Council where they planned to ask that Boonville also scrap its ordinance. But Alcoa was not allowed to speak, Beck said.
Wyatt said Boonville wants to meet with Alcoa representatives at a time when attorneys for both parties can be present. Alcoa officials said they have been willing for some time to meet with Boonville’s elected leaders.
Alcoa's long-term success in Warrick County depends on existing and new power-generating resources, according to the company.
Alcoa also has met with homeowners in Warrick County and has attempted to address their concerns. Beck said the residents closest to the proposed mining expansion do not live within the limits of Boonville, and Liberty Mine and its proposed expansion is not within Boonville.
“A continued supply of reliable and low-cost fuel is an important component to the successful operation of Alcoa Warrick, including the partial restart of our aluminum smelter,” Beck said.
Mark Phillips, an attorney who represents a group of 80-100 homeowners, said his clients want the Alcoa smelter reboot to be successful but have concerns about being only 300 feet from where mining takes place.
The Liberty Mine expansion would be in north central Warrick County, bordered by State Road 61 to the east, Millersburg Road to the south and Stevenson Station Road to the west.
"They have concerns about water and air quality and blasting effects on their homes and property," Phillips said. "Our desire has been to negotiate terms that protect the homeowner from things they have no control over and are not addressed in any permit approval by DNR."
Warrick County has a long history of coal mining, Phillips said, and his clients want a resolution that brings 'a win-win situation for both sides.'
The smelter, which went into operation in 1960, shut down in March 2016. The company announced the closure about three months prior to that.
Once the three lines start operating again, Warrick's smelter will be one of only six such facilities still operating in the United States, according to Alcoa.