Century Aluminum employees warned plant may close

Ravenswood Mayor Lucy Harbert said a total shutdown of the plant "would devastate the whole county."

"It's never good news, and it's especially bad right before Christmas," she said.

The plant employs not only Ravenswood residents, but also people from Parkersburg, Spencer and Charleston, the mayor said.

"The trickle-down effect that it will have will be devastating in this community," she said.

Harbert said she would be making phone calls today to various officials, from Jackson County commissioners to U.S. senators.

"I'm hoping that maybe if they bail out people with millions of dollars, maybe someone will bail out us here," she said.

The price of aluminum has fallen from just over $3,200 per metric ton in July to about $1,400 today, Dildine said.

"What we can control is our own cost structure," Dildine said. "We're going to be addressing that very aggressively... We're going to invest every possible means to address the cost structure so we can hopefully keep the plant open in Ravenswood."

Electricity rates have been rising in West Virginia, but remain low compared to other states. In June, the state's Public Service Commission approved an 11 percent increase for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power to cover rising fuel costs and capital improvements.

Appalachian Power spokeswoman Jeri Matheney said Thursday the utility has been working with Century, but wouldn't comment on what specific arrangements they're discussing.

"It's important to keep in mind that they have one of the lowest rates in the country," Matheney said. "It's simply that they use enormous amounts of it.... They couldn't get a better rate working anywhere else in the country."

If Century gets a big discount from Appalachian Power, the utility could ask for a rate increase from other customers, said Byron Harris, director of the Consumer Advocate Division at the PSC.

from an article on December 19th.