Point Comfort

History

The Alcoa (Point Comfort)/Lavaca Bay site is located in Calhoun County, Texas, near the City of Point Comfort. The area includes the approximately 3,500-acre Alcoa Point Comfort Operations (PCO) Plant, Dredge Island, portions of Lavaca Bay, Cox Bay, Cox Creek, Cox Cove, Cox Lake and western Matagorda Bay.

The PCO Plant was established as an aluminum smelter in 1948. Smelting operations were curtailed in 1980. Bauxite refining, which utilizes bauxite ore to produce alumina, began in 1958. Past operations that have been dismantled and removed include the smelter, a cryolite plant, a chlor-alkali plant, and the Witco coal tar processing plant.

The facility’s alumina refinery, the last remaining operation, was curtailed in June of 2016, closed in December of 2019, and is currently undergoing demolition.

Alcoa is committed to returning the site to productive reuse for the benefit of the community, and responsibly manages the demolition, remediation, and ongoing monitoring activity at the site. Alcoa works closely with all federal, state and local authorities engaged in site restoration activities including the U.S. EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas State Department of Health Services, and Calhoun Port Authority.

Current Site Activities

Our site is currently undergoing demolition, which involves a careful and selective deconstruction of existing structures based upon their potential for reuse, following the guidance of regulatory authorities. Our team also works to identify and preserve buildings, assets and infrastructure that can be reused by a new or different operator of the site. We also carefully manage, according to best practices and regulations governing our site, the remediation of site land and water resources. We work to remediate sites to a standard that will allow reuse or redevelopment in accordance with the site’s highest and best use.

Future Development

In close coordination with the Victoria Economic Development Corporation, Calhoun Port Authority and site regulators, we work to identify the best opportunities for site reuse and redevelopment. Additionally, we support the Calhoun Port Authority’s Stronger Port Initiative (strongerport.com) for the Matagorda Bay Ship Channel Improvement Project, a congressionally approved project led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that was passed by Congress in the WRDA Act and signed into law in December of 2020. This expansion project is essential to the economic growth of the Texas Gulf Coast, the state of Texas, and the U.S. The environmental integrity of the project will be supported by environmental remediation and management currently underway at our site.