The companies, Emirates Global Aluminum and Century Aluminum, are behind Oklahoma Primary Aluminum, which would be the largest primary aluminum production plant ever built in the United States. The facility would sit on about 633 acres along the Verdigris River and could produce more than 750,000 metric tons of aluminum per year. But primary aluminum smelting is one of the most polluting heavy-industrial processes in existence, generating hazardous waste and consuming large amounts of electricity and water. Drummond has also noted that the process releases fluoride that settles on hay and harms cattle.

The attorney general's filing points to a Vanity Fair excerpt published last month from journalist Matthew Cole's book, which alleged that rulers of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia placed $2 billion into bank accounts for Jared Kushner while he was a senior advisor to the president. The excerpt claims the payments were made in exchange for Kushner advancing the Emirates' interests within the U.S. government.

“These are allegations, not findings, and the State treats them as such,” Drummond said in the filing. “But they are serious allegations about the government that owns sixty percent of this project, and the State is entitled to find out whether they reach (the project).”

Drummond noted that the companies told a federal court the venture was secured through a government-to-government partnership between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. “The reports describe that same government paying a senior United States official, through a bank chaired by its ruler’s brother, for his influence over United States policy,” he wrote. “If any public official or member of a public official’s family holds an interest in, or stands to benefit from, the Emirati investment behind the Inola smelter, that fact bears squarely on issues (that are a part of this case).”

The filing adds requests for the companies to identify their communications and agreements with Kushner and his investment firm, to state whether he or any affiliated entity holds an interest in or benefits from the project, and to identify the source of the funds behind the Emirati investment.

The push for transparency comes amid broader scrutiny of the project's incentives. An agreement signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt and a company owned by government investment entities in the United Arab Emirates outlined hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed incentives for the smelter nearly a month before lawmakers approved legislation creating a state incentive program. That timing has raised questions about the deal-making process and who stands to benefit from the public subsidies.

For Inola residents and communities along the Verdigris River, the case carries significant weight. The smelter promises jobs and economic development, but also raises environmental and health concerns. The attorney general's effort to uncover the project's ownership and funding is a test of whether Oklahomans will get straight answers about a massive industrial venture backed by a foreign government with a troubling human rights record and alleged pay-to-play dealings with a former U.S. official.