From the early 1950s until 2000, Reynolds Metals Company owned and operated the Sherman Alumina Refinery located in Corpus Christi, about 8 miles south of Copano. Alcoa acquired Reynolds in December 2000 and the Sherwin Alumina Company (SAC) was eventually sold to Glencore in 2007. SAC declared bankruptcy and closed the refinery in 2016. Following the bankruptcy, Alcoa Corp (through its subsidiary, Copano Enterprise LLC, reached a commercial agreement with Glencore/SAC for ownership of the Copano property . When operational, the Sherwin refinery used bauxite to make alumina, a key material to producing aluminum. As part of the refining process, impoundments were created to manage bauxite residue, a byproduct from the alumina refinery. Today, the Copano site consists of four impoundments – also called beds — that contain various amounts of bauxite residue based on their operational history. These residue storage areas are known as Beds 1, 2, 3 and 4 and cover approximately 3,100 acres.