Muskogee residents hold community meeting to discuss concerns with refinery, green energy

Dozens of people in Muskogee are frustrated about a lithium refinery going in south of town. They talked about their concerns at a community meeting Friday.

City leaders say the Stardust refinery is safe and will be a good thing for Muskogee’s economy.

WHAT DO RESIDENTS SAY?

Some people spoke up and said they are worried about more companies bringing green energy projects to Oklahoma, while others say they’re excited about the jobs it will bring.

Some of the concerns brought up were about the environment and health issues.

Several people said they had no idea the project was happening when it broke ground last week.

Several presenters talked about green energy across the state.

Many say they’re worried about how close the project would be to a school.

“It is a proprietary theoretical model and it has not ever been tested at full scale,” said Charles Crawford. “I would rather not have that test be done of a full scale operation 5200 feet from 1,803 students.”

WHAT DO CITY LEADERS SAY?

City leaders praised the project at the groundbreaking last week. Muskogee Mayor Patrick Cale says the refinery is safe and people shouldn’t worry about it.

“If you’re going to live in the United States and you’re going to be anywhere near refineries, factories that build things, you’re in risk,” said Cale. “You just try to mitigate those risks. As far as our new refinery goes, I personally feel very confident that it’s going to be safe.”

WHAT IS THE PROJECT?

Stardust Power broke ground on a $1.2 billion lithium refinery south of Muskogee.

The refinery will extract lithium from wastewater generated by oil and mining, and Stardust says it will produce 50,000 metric tons of lithium a year.

The refinery will sit on a 66 acre field along Highway 64 near the airport.

WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION?

You can visit Stardust Power’s website here.