Union cites “importance of preserving domestic aluminum industry” as Alcoa attempts to quash rumors of tear down
Close lines: Is this facility in Ferndale, Wash. ready to join the ranks of other retired aluminum plants in the Pacific Northwest? Depends who you ask. Photo: Cascadia Daily News
By Julia Lerner/Cascadia Daily News. January 31, 2023. Three years after Ferndale, Washington’s Intalco aluminum smelter curtailed operations, the facility may be preparing to close its doors permanently.
Since it was mothballed in 2020, the facility has been operated by a skeleton crew—about a dozen people monitoring the site, keeping the lights on, the doors locked and the equipment ready to go—in the event a restart could be negotiated.
About half of those workers have received a pink slip over the last few weeks, and the other half, according to people with knowledge of the situation, have been dismantling and shipping out equipment.
Intalco’s parent company, the Alcoa Corporation, said demolition isn’t currently planned, but rumors of a permanent closure flew when the union representing the reduced staff—the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW)—called on the company to keep the doors open.
“I write to urge you to work with the IAMAW and all parties to pause the planned demolition of the Intalco smelter with the goal of restarting this vitally important facility,” IAMAW President Robert Martinez, Jr. wrote to Alcoa CEO Roy Harvey last week.
The union, the letter stated, has worked to assemble a coalition of supporters “who understand the importance of preserving a domestic aluminum industry in the United States and the critical role the Intalco Works smelter in Ferndale, Washington plays.”
Pac NW aluminum production fading
Restarting the Ferndale smelter would take years of work, millions of dollars, significant political will and a below-market-rate contract for operational power.
While that political will and financial support may exist, negotiations to restart the smelter were suspended last year, when potential buyer and restart proponent Blue Wolf Capital Partners withdrew from discussions after failing to secure an energy contract.
“Alcoa negotiated a possible divestiture of the plant, but the potential buyer withdrew from discussions in December 2022, citing its inability to acquire a competitive energy agreement that would be necessary to support its acquisition,” an Alcoa spokesperson said last week.
Hope remains, though, for a facility restart and the return of 700 union jobs.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The U.S. imports aluminum from 131 countries. Canada is its largest provider.[/perfectpullquote]
Federal legislators, including Wash. Rep. Rick Larsen (who represents portions of Snohomish and all of Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan counties) have sought alternatives to restart the smelter as a “green” facility.
Options included use of the federal Defense Production Act to get the potlines running again.
Martinez wrote there is “a path forward for this facility to reopen and once again start producing strategically important domestic aluminum and put more than 700 IAMAW members back to work in Ferndale.”
Alcoa attempted to quash the rumors of demolition Friday.
“The Intalco smelter remains in a curtailed state and Alcoa continues to evaluate options for the plant, as we do with any curtailed capacity in our operations portfolio,” Alcoa said in a statement. “Decisions regarding the future of curtailed sites are based on a variety of factors, including global economic conditions, market pricing, energy prices, capital requirements and the prospects for long-term, sustainable competitiveness. Alcoa seeks viable opportunities for all its curtailed or closed sites to be returned to productive and sustainable use.”
When the facility initially shuttered its doors in mid-2020, Alcoa told employees the company could not compete in the global market for aluminum as production costs rose, aluminum prices fell and foreign competition increased.
Advocates of the smelter restart have long said the country has a dire need for locally sourced aluminum, particularly as international tensions with Russia heat up.
In 2020, the United States imported about $19.1 billion worth of aluminum from 131 countries. Canada is the largest provider, supplying more than a third of the total U.S. imported aluminum. Russia was the seventh-largest supplier, providing about 2.2% of the aluminum imports. According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, the United States now produces only 1% of the world’s aluminum.
Ferndale folks, don’t get your hopes up. Alcoa/Northwest Alloys Longview was going to convert to a coal terminal. They still haven’t implemented the toxic waste cleanup plan started over ten years ago. They’ve used the site for materials transfer and storage. There was fire there yesterday and we still don’t know what was in the smoke.
Of all the polluting, energy intensive industries inflicted upon us, aluminum smelting ranks right up there with the worst. Good riddance to bad neighbors! Maybe those 700 union workers should apply at Washington State Ferries; they are begging for help!