Century Aluminum posts closure notice

That is part of it.

Judging from what I am reading they probably got the promise of other goodies.

But the gvt. there is changing and a big part of the reason is that a lot of people are opposed to all these aluminum smelters and power plants.

They are also closing plants in the Pacific NW and moving there.

Just google around a little with century aluminum, iceland, alcoa, etc.

It is real interesting.

They are also building a power plant, smelter, etc in Congo.

So this is not just supply/demand.

And dont be surprised if Mark Rich has his fingers in it.

You mean the guy that Clinton pardoned?

I don't suppose you'll concede things like labor costs and business taxes and the like have anything to do with it will you?

Of course they do.

So do gvt subsidies.

"In 2001, the Icelandic Planning Agency rejected the Karahnjukar plan, ruling that any economic benefits would not compensate for the potential environmental harm. But Iceland's environment minister at the time overturned the decision, setsome new conditions and allowed the project to go ahead.

Opponents now say that many Icelanders did not appreciate its scale or potential impact.

''People were kind of misled, and I don't think even the politicians really understood what was going on,'' said Andri Snaer Magnason, a poet, playwright and novelist. Last year, Mr. Magnason, 31, published ''Dreamland,'' a devastating polemic that puts Iceland's environmental issues into a global perspective. The book has sold 18,000 copies -- the equivalent, in percentage terms, of 18 million copies in the United States.

In September, Omar Ragnarsson, one of the country's most respected television reporters, announced that he could no longer cover the Karahnjukar project with a journalist's impartiality and would campaign against it. In a country where public demonstrations are rare, he led an antidam rally in Reykjavik, attended by 8,000 to 13,000 people."

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14463

But when it is mentioned here that we should help hold down the price of electricity people go spastic.

So how do you want to "hold down" the price of electricity. Like me, you oppose MTR, but that is the cheapest way to mine the coal.

Most Americans are NIMBY types. We can't have nuclear power because of 3 Mile Island. We can't have wind power because it kills bats and because Uncle Teddy will have his view from the Kennedy compound "obstructed". We can't build more refineries. We can't have off-shore drilling.

Ziggy wants the price to go higher and higher for consumers so we'll use less energy. For him maybe the aluminum plant picking up shop and moving to Iceland is a good thing.

Well believe it or not ziggie and I dont always agree on everything.

And we dont have to wait on our daily briefing on our talking points.

For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.

We have room right here to not only keep our 650 jobs but even build 2 or 3 more smelters.

For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.

So what is WV going to fuel that power plant with?

MTR coal? If so, you are correct- we won't agree on doing that.

Now if the legal authority for the state to operate a power plant had iron clad provision that required that it be fueled by underground mined coal or some other fuel, we could talk about it. But if it's to be fueled with MTR coal, then, as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing to talk about.

Stephanie wrote:I want to make sure I understand you guys.

Sherm & Ziggy believe Century Aluminum is moving jobs to Iceland simply because of the price of electricity? Have I got that right?

Well, that is what the company said, Stephanie.

And Gov. Manchin told some of us a few weeks ago that Century was paying 2.7 cents / KWH for electricity, and was about to shut down. He also told us that if we could figure a way for Century to buy power for 1.5 cents / KWH, that he believed it would remain open.

In the aluminum smelter business the biggest cost is electricity. It is even more than their cost of labor.

[quote="sodbuster"]For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.quote]

You are really funny, ya know that Shermmy.

Ain't no way in hell WV can compete with Iceland when it comes to subsidizing electricity. Geeze, even if Iceland gave WV bunches of "Carbon Credits" for free.

Basically, in Iceland, electricity is dirt cheap ....... and you can't get any cheaper that that.

The aluminum company could build/buy their own generators for that matter and thus their electricity would be free.

Ya just punch a couple pipes into the ground and hook them up to turn those turbines.

.

Well zig coincidentally 1.5 is the rate cited in a couple of the references I have posted.

Well zig let the record show I am opposed to strip mining and especially mtr under any circumstances.

I am surprised and disappointed that you would insinuate that I support stripmining mtr or otherwise.

Also for anyone interested in truth as opposed to b.s. and insults from Stephanie's teacher pet, just google iceland, electricity, aluminum smelters and you will see sticking a pipe in the ground is just more sam b.s.

I have pets?

Holy smokes sometimes you guys are actually worse than my kids.

sodbuster wrote:Well zig let the record show I am opposed to strip mining and especially mtr under any circumstances.

Well I kinda thought so, Sodbuster. And I take you at your word on that.

But anytime someone starts talkin' about building another power plant, I start wonderin' about what they will run it with. Them things don't just run on air, you know. (unless they are wind turbines)

So, just like with that big 765 Kilovolt PATH power line that AEPCO and Allegheny want to build jointly- to run from Winfield to Frederick MD- we gotta ask how will the half dozen or so power plants that would be needed to feed that thing be fueled. For me that is the first question to be asked. But maybe that's just me.

Well zig if it was anybody else I could say I have been opposed to strip mining longer than them.

But since it's you I cant.

But you keep talking about externalizing so is it ok to just let someone else take the jobs and externalize the cost on someone else?

You still mean about the Century Aluminum smelter going to Iceland? Then no, it's not OK if something reasonable can be done to keep it from happening. And in that context I understand about the power plant thing you suggest.

Where is that Arch Moore guy when we really need him, anyway. Wasn't that his idea- that the sate would own several power plants around the state?

Well say what you will about Arch he was not your rightwing ideologue.

He was sometimes pragmatic and willing to use a little ingenuity to get things done.