Phelps Dodge Corporation

Phelps Dodge Corporation was the owner of Douglas Reduction Works, the copper smelter whose operation and closure reshaped both the environment and the economy of Douglas, Arizona. Its decision to close rather than install emissions controls ended a major source of air pollution, but also removed hundreds of jobs from a town deeply dependent on the plant.

Ownership and Environmental Impact

By the 1980s, Douglas Reduction Works had become the largest sulfur dioxide emitter in American manufacturing, releasing about 950 tons of the pollutant each day. The emissions contributed to acid rain and made the smelter’s pollution a direct local health concern: the smoke was so dense that one doctor stopped encouraging patients to exercise, fearing the effects of heavy breathing. The account places the plant’s operation within the growing regulatory response to air pollution, including the Clean Air Act and its extensions.

Closure of the Smelter

The Environmental Protection Agency ordered Phelps Dodge to install emissions controls, at a cost of half a billion dollars. The company shut the smelter instead. In mid-January 1987, four workers poured the final batch of copper; after the smokestacks stopped emitting exhaust, the haze over the valley dissipated. The closure thus brought a visible environmental change, even as its economic consequences became immediate.

Economic Consequences

The shutdown eliminated 347 jobs carrying a combined $10 million in payroll—an estimated quarter of Douglas’s local economy. Residents resented the loss, including people who still had work, and some publicly blamed those responsible for the closure. Phelps Dodge’s role in the town’s history is therefore defined by a sharp reversal: the end of the smelter relieved Douglas of its thick air pollution while withdrawing a major source of employment and income.