Up here in our neck of the woods, the great Pacific Northwest, they just closed the Vanalco Aluminum plant in Vancouver, Wash. The reason? High electricity costs.
Word around here is that Vanalco decided early on to buy their electricity on the open market, where its price fluctuates quickly with the changing times. That, apparently, was their undoing.
The rest of the big aluminum plants in the Columbia basin have signed contracts with BPA for their electricity. This may be only give them a temporary reprieve, however, since BPA is raising short-term power rates due to spilling more water over the dams in response to fish concerns. So, if hydro-electricity is going up, and natural-gas-produced electricity is going up, then it won't be long before the aluminum industry feels it. And when they feel it, the economy around here takes a hit, big time. |
