The Reynolds Metals Company facility in Troutdale, Oregon, was a primary aluminum reduction plant. The plant covered 80 acres, surrounded by 700 acres which was also owned by the Reynolds Metals Company. The property is bordered by the Columbia River to the north, the Sandy River to the east, the Troutdale airport to the south, and Fairview Dairy Farms to the west. The plant was constructed in 1941 by the United States government, and was leased in 1946 and then purchased in 1949 by Reynolds.  The site was in the 100-year flood plain and surrounded by a flood control dike. 

Site Address:  5100 NE Sundial Rd. Troutdale Oregon 97060

The History of the Reynolds Aluminum Plant

In 1941, The Aluminum Company of America (= Alcoa) built and operated the Troutdale aluminum plant for United States Department of Defense as a primary aluminum reduction plant, where alumina from bauxite ore was converted to aluminum, to support wartime operations. Original cost of the plant was $130M.  Aluminum was used primarily in manufacturing of aircraft, but was gaining popularity in shipbuilding and other military uses. After the war, Reynolds Metals Company began leasing the plant in June 1946, and purchased it in June 1949. At the time of purchase, the plant produced 11% of aluminum in the nation at 145,000,000 pounds/year. Reynolds used the plant to cast ingots from aluminum imported from another plant from 1992 to 2000.  In 2000, the plant was temporarily shut down. Alcoa purchased Reynolds in 2000 and briefly reopened, then announced in February 2002, that the plant would permanently be closed, demolished and the property sold.  Today, the property is an industrial park and home of a FedEx distribution center.

At its peak, Reynolds employed as many as 800 people and was one of the largest employers in the Portland area. Employment workforce fluctuated with the price of aluminum over the years.  A state economic impact study stated that in 1998, Reynolds employed 520 people. However, an additional 680 jobs were also created in wholesale/retail trade, services and government jobs.  When the plant closed in 2000, it affected 1200 jobs. 

The uses of aluminum in WWII included ship infrastructure, aircraft, radar and millions of mess kits. When the plant closed in 2000, the price of aluminum had been slowly cooling for years, a victim of falling prices and the rise of plastic alternatives to the lightweight metal.

The mess kit or meat can, consisted of the basics necessary for a soldier in the field to feed himself.  The mess kit was used to prepare, cook and eat food.  The U.S. GI mess kit consisted of a two-part pan with hinged handle, which also closed the device when the two halves were not in use.  The pans were not deep because C-rations only required re-heating not cooking from scratch.  The mess kit also contained a knife, fork and spoon.  The WWI version was made of aluminum, but the metal would stain.  Later versions were made of stainless steel or other rust-resistant metals.  The mess kit and utensils were stored in a pouch, which also provided space for C-rations.

Reynolds Metals began as a supplier of foil for cigarette packaging. The company was founded in 1919 by R.S. Reynolds, a nephew of tobacco baron R.J. Reynolds. 

Over the decades, the company continued to grow and introduce new products, such as the aluminum beverage can. In 1970, the first all-aluminum engine block was introduced, and the pull-tab beverage can came along in 1975.

Although the Reynolds Aluminum plant in Troutdale is gone, the roots it planted in east county remain. 

The Reynolds School District

Reynolds School District formed in 1954 as a consolidation of the Fairview, Troutdale and Wilkes elementary school districts, taking its name from the region’s major employer. The original Reynolds High School symbol was an aluminum lance.

The city of Wood Village was established in 1942 to house workers from the aluminum plant. It was one of the first planned communities in Oregon. 

Reynolds Aluminum EPA Health Risk

Smelting of Aluminum is a process where aluminum bauxite is mixed with harsh chemicals and large amounts of electricity are passed thru it causing pure aluminum to separate leaving toxic waste products for disposal. During the production process, molten aluminum would be handled in large, carbon-lined pots. Trace amounts of other metals such as copper, chromium, and beryllium were sometimes added to make aluminum alloys. Spent carbon potliners containing cyanides were disposed of on-site until 1975. DEQ visited the site in 1981 and collected three on-site well samples. Two groundwater samples contained cyanide (up to 4 ppb). Aluminum production at the site halted in November 1991. In April 1992, free mercury was found in the storage/scrap yard in the SE corner of the site, probably from old arc rectifiers. 600 tons of contaminated soil was removed from this area. EPA collected samples at the site in May 1993. Cyanides were detected in some of the wells; two wells contained arsenic. Groundwater samples also contained barium, magnesium, and fluorides. Soil and sediments from most sample locations, including Company Lake and the wetlands north of the dike, contained significant levels of many metals, PAHs, and fluorides. DEQ's Site Response program began investigating the site in November 1993. EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in December 1994, and took the lead in investigating and cleaning up the site. In 1994 when the smelter was still owned by Reynolds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the smelter and surrounding property a Superfund site due to the spent pot lining, carbon, fluoride, and other hazardous substances that had been land filled on the site before current disposal laws. The majority of hazardous disposal took place between 1946 and 1975.

When the plant was reducing aluminum ore, it produced wastes that contained metals, fluoride, poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and cyanide. Pot liners, made of carbon and contaminated with PAHs, fluoride, and cyanide, were disposed of in several piles on the site. Much of the above ground pot liner waste has been removed. Cryolite, which is sodium aluminum fluoride, was disposed of into on-site ponds. Contaminated wastes and soils at the ponds have since been removed.

Waste water produced at the plant was initially discharged directly into the wetland area between the plant and the Troutdale airport. The wetlands drain to the west and eventually into the Columbia River. Two lakes, East Lake and Company Lake, are between the plant and the Columbia River. East Lake was formerly part of a stream that included Company Lake. This stream has since been interrupted by a built-up roadway. Waste water was at one time, discharged into Company Lake, which emptied into the Columbia River.

In its early operations, the facility released large quantities of particulates into the air. These particulates were probably composed of PAHs, aluminum, and fluoride. The amount of wastes which were released into the air was greatly reduced in 1950, when better waste control systems were installed. One family who had lived a mile to a mile and a half from the site prior to 1950 won a lawsuit filed against the Reynolds Metals Company for "damage to persons ... from 'excessive amounts' of fluorides."


Six removal actions were taken at the site in 1995 and 1996. About 13,900 tons of cryolite, 11,000 tons of spent potliner waste, 2,600 tons of diesel-contaminated soil, and 580 tons of PCB-contaminated dust, soil, and debris were separately excavated and disposed of off-site. In addition, seven on-site production wells were abandoned, and 21 dewatering sumps contaminated with fluoride, cyanide, and PAHs were cleaned out. Reynolds began work on the RI/FS in 1996. The RI/FS identified several additional sources of contamination, including two old landfills (North Landfill and South Landfill), a former scrap yard, and a surface water impoundment (Company Lake). Additional removals were conducted between 1997 and 1999, including the removal of PCB-contaminated soil from the South Wetlands and removal of soil and sediments from South Ditch. A partial removal of 3,300 cubic yards of Company Lake sediments occurred in October 2001 to test dewatering as an alternate technology to dredging. EPA issued an interim ROD in September 2002. The chosen remedy includes excavating South Landfill; excavating the eastern portion of North Landfill and capping the rest; and excavating the remainder of Company Lake. Excavated materials would be disposed of off-site. Contaminated groundwater would be extracted, deep plumes contained using production wells, and the combined flow (est. 1,240 gallons per minute) would be discharged to the Columbia River. (6/20/05 MDK/CU&ER) Remediation at the company lake, north landfill, scrap yard, and south landfill was completed during the 2003 and 2004 construction season with contaminated soil and sediment disposed off-site. The focused extraction system was installed in late 2004. The groundwater monitoring network was revised and completed during late 2004 and early 2005. Plant demolition, with additional site characterization, has been on-going since late 2003. A residual risk assessment will be conducted in mid 2005. The Port of Portland is negotiating a Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) with DEQ anticipating sale of the property at the end of 2005.
Clean up continued thru 2008, when the Port or Portland bought the property and continued clean up operations. Ongoing remedial action consists of pump & treat of groundwater in the former scrap yard area. The EPA, the lead agency for the site, conducts five year reviews. The most recent Five-Year Report Report for Reynolds Metals Superfund Site issued in October 2013.

Reynolds Aluminum Time Line

1941 Alcoa builds first aluminum plant for govt in Troutdale

1946 Reynolds Metals begins leasing plant
1947 Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil introduced

1949 Reynolds buys plant

1954 Reynolds School District formed

1965 Reynolds builds second plant on site

1970 Reynolds makes first all aluminum engine block

1975 Reynolds makes first pull tab aluminum can
1994 EPA declares Reynolds site a superfund

1998 Alcoa purchases Reynolds Aluminum
2002 Plant stops operations and closes

2003 Plant demolished

2008 Alcoa sells to Port of Portland
2010 FedEx opens distribution hub