INTALCO ALUMINUM CORP FERNDALE

Intalco Aluminum LLC's Ferndale, Washington smelter — a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcoa Corporation that curtailed operations in August 2020 and permanently closed in March 2023 — is now in multiyear demolition while carrying the residual liability of a $5.25 million federal Clean Air Act settlement finalized July 23, 2024 [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter]. EPA ECHO records attribute eight quarters of non-compliance and $2,139,600 in derived 24-month penalties to the single facility (EPA ID 110040947820), with the most recent permit action dated August 7, 2025 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The Washington State Department of Ecology's cleanup registry lists the site under case 2280, with documented fluoride and aluminum contamination of surface water [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280].

This is not an operating-emissions story. It is a closure-and-cleanup story, and the distinction matters for how analysts frame residual risk. Alcoa began demolition in early March 2026, a process expected to run multiple years [source: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/03/06/demolition-of-last-northwest-aluminum-smelter-signals-end-of-an-industrial-era/]. The governing compliance instruments going forward are the NPDES wastewater permit, the Solid Waste Control Plan filed with Whatcom County on January 9, 2025 [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025], and the 2024 federal consent decree. Intalco is privately held through Alcoa and files no standalone SEC disclosures; analysts seeking forward risk language must read Alcoa Corporation's consolidated 10-K.

The Ferndale smelter's modern compliance record begins with a November 2019 EPA inspection that identified violations of the Clean Air Act's National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) applicable to primary aluminum reduction plants. Agency records describe a pattern from 2017 to 2020 in which the facility, per EPA, did not maintain and operate air pollution control systems as required and exceeded emission limits on multiple occasions, alongside hundreds of recordkeeping and monitoring deficiencies [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter]. Operations were curtailed in August 2020 as falling aluminum prices and rising maintenance costs rendered the smelter uneconomic [source: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/last-aluminum-smelter-west-coming-down-ferndale-intalco/281-bd3010eb-28df-4bd4-94a2-b095fbf5b878].

Three inflection points define the past 24 months. On July 23, 2024, EPA Region 10 and the Department of Justice announced a $5.25 million civil penalty settlement resolving the NESHAP violations identified during that 2019 inspection [source: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/article290360019.html]. The settlement also required injunctive measures tied to site closure and environmental safety [source: https://www.alcircle.com/news/intalco-aluminum-commits-5-25-million-to-enhance-environmental-safety-compliance-at-ferndale-111524]. The plant had already moved from curtailment to permanent closure in March 2023, and on January 9, 2025, Intalco filed a revised Solid Waste Control Plan — Revision 6 — supporting its NPDES permit, naming Ryan Harried as Environmental Manager and describing the facility's transition to demolition [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025]. The third inflection was the commencement of physical demolition in early March 2026, when excavators moved onto the 4050 Mountain View Road site to begin tearing down what had been the last primary aluminum smelter in the Pacific Northwest [source: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/03/06/demolition-of-last-northwest-aluminum-smelter-signals-end-of-an-industrial-era/].

Running parallel to the federal enforcement track, the Washington State Department of Ecology maintains the Ferndale site on its cleanup docket as case 2280. Contaminants of concern are fluoride and aluminum in surface water — a profile consistent with spent potliner and cryolite-bath residues characteristic of Hall-Héroult primary aluminum smelting [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280]. EPA ECHO's exporter dataset, as of May 4, 2026, records eight quarters with non-compliance flags at facility 110040947820 and a derived 24-month penalty total of approximately $2.14 million, with zero currently active permits reflecting the transition to closure status [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The latest permit-related action recorded in the ECHO exporter is dated August 7, 2025 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip].

Clean Air Act (CAA) — NESHAP Subpart LL (primary aluminum reduction plants), settled July 23, 2024. EPA Region 10 and DOJ resolved violations alleged to have occurred from 2017 to 2020, including failure to maintain and operate air pollution control systems, exceedances of emission limits, and hundreds of monitoring and recordkeeping deficiencies. Civil penalty: $5,250,000. The consent decree resolved allegations stemming from the November 2019 EPA inspection [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter]. Regional press confirms both the penalty amount and its scope [source: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/article290360019.html] [source: https://www.allpointbulletin.com/stories/intalco-aluminum-plant-fined-525-million-for-air-pollution,33525]. Trade-press reporting characterizes the settlement as including environmental safety and compliance commitments for the site's wind-down [source: https://www.alcircle.com/news/intalco-aluminum-commits-5-25-million-to-enhance-environmental-safety-compliance-at-ferndale-111524].

Clean Water Act (CWA) / NPDES — ongoing. The facility's NPDES permit governs stormwater and process-water discharges during demolition and cleanup. The Solid Waste Control Plan Revision 6, dated January 9, 2025, supports that permit and documents demolition-era waste streams, including characterization protocols for materials generated as structures come down [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025]. Washington Ecology's cleanup case 2280 identifies fluoride and aluminum in surface water as the driver for ongoing state oversight [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280].

ECHO aggregate — the EPA ECHO exporter snapshot of May 4, 2026 records eight quarters with non-compliance at facility 110040947820 and a derived 24-month penalty figure of $2,139,600, calculated as total_5yr × (24/60). That $2.14 million figure is a pro-rata allocation of the five-year penalty total into a 24-month window. It should not be read as an incremental penalty beyond the $5.25 million July 2024 settlement; it reflects the same underlying enforcement action [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. No Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) penalty actions in the 24-month window are recorded in the sources reviewed.

Intalco Works — 4050 Mountain View Road, Ferndale, WA 98248 (EPA ID 110040947820). This is the sole facility in scope. At full operation the smelter was capable of producing 307,000 tons of primary aluminum per year. It curtailed in August 2020, permanently closed in March 2023, and entered active demolition in March 2026 [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025] [source: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/03/06/demolition-of-last-northwest-aluminum-smelter-signals-end-of-an-industrial-era/]. ECHO reports eight quarters of non-compliance and a derived $2.14 million 24-month penalty allocation [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. The site sits within several miles of the BP Cherry Point Refinery and the Lummi Nation's usual-and-accustomed fishing areas. That geography places demolition-phase fugitive dust and surface-water discharges under close local scrutiny [source: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/article290360019.html]. The ECHO exporter reports an EJ index average of 0.0 for the facility — a value that, given the rural census block geometry around Ferndale, reflects the ECHO screening methodology rather than an absence of environmental-justice considerations. The Lummi reservation and tribal treaty-protected waters lie within the broader airshed and watershed [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Ryan Harried is named as Environmental Manager on current state filings [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025].

Hydrogen fluoride and total fluorides. Primary aluminum reduction cells consume cryolite (Na3AlF6) and release gaseous and particulate fluorides regulated under NESHAP Subpart LL. The 2024 EPA settlement specifically addressed hazardous air pollutant controls at the potlines [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter]. Washington Ecology identifies fluoride in surface water as a contaminant of concern at the site [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280]. During demolition, fluoride exposure pathways include fugitive dust from spent potliner and cathode materials and leachate to surface water from disturbed bath residues — both active concerns as structures come down.

Aluminum (particulate and dissolved). Ecology's cleanup record for site 2280 lists aluminum in surface water alongside fluoride [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280]. Demolition-phase exposure pathways include windblown dust and stormwater runoff. Both are governed by the NPDES permit and the Solid Waste Control Plan [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025].

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and cyanide from spent potliner. Primary aluminum smelters using prebake or Søderberg cells generate spent potliner classified as hazardous under RCRA (K088), containing leachable cyanide and PAHs. The sources reviewed do not enumerate K088 disposition at Ferndale specifically, but the Solid Waste Control Plan governs characterization and off-site disposal of such materials during demolition [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025]. Environmental-justice implications track directly to the proximity of the Lummi Nation's treaty-protected fisheries and to residential Ferndale [source: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/article290360019.html].

No NAICS 331313 (alumina refining and primary aluminum production) peer rows were returned in the benchmark dataset supplied, reflecting the small U.S. primary-aluminum peer universe — Century Aluminum and Alcoa's remaining domestic smelters at Warrick in Indiana and Massena in New York are the principal comparables. Absent a peer-penalty panel, the $5.25 million July 2024 CAA settlement should be read against EPA Region 10's own framing as a major NESHAP action for the primary aluminum sector [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter].

Intalco Aluminum LLC is privately held and files no standalone SEC reports; the CIK field is N/A and no Item 1A or MD&A excerpts are available in the research bundle. Forward-looking environmental risk for the Ferndale site is therefore governed by three instruments: the terms of the July 23, 2024 federal consent decree [source: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/intalco-pay-5-million-penalty-major-clean-air-act-violations-former-ferndale-smelter], the Washington Ecology cleanup obligations under case 2280 for fluoride and aluminum in surface water [source: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/cleanupsearch/site/2280], and the multiyear demolition and waste-management program described in the Solid Waste Control Plan Revision 6 [source: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/94077/sepa2024-00038---Intalco-Solid-Waste-Control-Plan-01092025]. Each instrument carries its own compliance calendar and reporting obligations that will extend well beyond the physical demolition timeline. Analysts requiring parent-level forward-looking language should consult Alcoa Corporation's (NYSE: AA) most recent 10-K via SEC EDGAR.