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Alumina Refinery Discharges Toxic Plume into Mississippi River
30 Oct
Summary
- Cloudy, rust-colored plume flows into Mississippi River from alumina refinery
- Refinery has exceeded environmental discharge limits for 25 of last 27 months
- State regulators issue compliance order, seek financial records to determine penalties
On October 21, 2025, a cloudy, rust-colored liquid plume roughly the size of a football field flowed into the Mississippi River from a drainage pipe at the Atlantic Alumina refinery in the River Parishes. Recent state records indicate this runoff is dangerously caustic and has well exceeded federal environmental standards.
This is part of an ongoing pattern of toxic releases from the facility over the past two years. A review of state records shows the refinery, also known as Atalco, exceeded its Mississippi River discharge permit in 25 of the last 27 months. In September 2025 alone, the company discharged water with pH levels up to 13.4 for nearly 144 hours, over 20 times the permitted level.
In response, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has issued Atalco a compliance order detailing numerous violations and is asking the company to disclose its financial statements to determine if it profited from ignoring environmental laws. The state can levy fines ranging from $100 to $32,500 per violation, and environmental advocates are calling for harsher penalties to deter the refinery's continued pollution of the river.
