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To: Alan Whirlwind who wrote (11112)	12/10/2000 10:14:55 PM
From: Mannie	Respond to of 42834

Maybe that is just the highest and best use for the resources, at this time. If we do less business in mining and smelting, and more in information technologies/high tech, that may be a positive, on balance. Scott

To: Alan Whirlwind who wrote (11112)	12/10/2000 10:44:32 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 42834

Alan Kaiser Aluminum had curtailed operations in Tacoma earlier this year and will now do so in Mead, Washington. They are getting 52 million bucks for their current selfless act of charity. That it is cheaper to sell a contract for electricity than to actually smelt the metal itself shows the appalling level to which metals and mining have sunk. The relation between a utility and a high load factor customer such as an aluminum company is incredibly complex. Although your conclusion on the surface seems reasonable it is not necessarily the correct one. In the northeast aluminum companies are extremely high and profitable energy users for utilities and often utilities must curtail power to such a user to deliver power to other firm users at peak times depending on contractual arrangements. I suspect the arrangements in the northeast are similar to those in the northwest and I will also add that it has been my experience that during depressed economic times in the aluminum industry levels of energy usage are still extremely high relatively speaking.