Posted on 08/10/2022 1:42:30 PM PDT by DFG
I worked at a Kaiser Aluminum smelter in Tacoma, Washington nearly 50 years ago. It was some of the hardest work you could imagine - hot, dirty, dangerous. You had to take several salt tablets before each shift to avoid serious muscle cramps, a hot summer day meant temperatures of 150 degrees on the main line. Good money at the time, though.
I had to wait several weeks lately for Aldi, where I usually get the best value, to replenish their household aluminum foil.
They’ve also been out of facial tissues for weeks and weeks, even though they recently had a pallet of toilet paper again.
Hope the chocolate holds out until Trump or DeSantis is back in the White House.
Our city collects “recycling”. But a while back China stopped accepting our garbage so the “recycling” goes to the landfill.
But I guess we will be collecting cans on the roadside to sell for recycling once Brandon’s economy takes its toll.
Biden’s plan going off as scheduled!!!
No shortage of Al in F-150s.
Washington state has abundant and cheap hydro power, yet the aluminum plants near Bellingham and Spokane are now closed.
Citizenship means nothing as to being a true American...after all, Biden is a citizen.
Maybe they should have bout EV’s. I’ve heard that solves everything.
Bout = bought
Yes, a huge aluminum plant here in Texas closed years ago, and it was claimed that energy consumption was the reason. I believe most of the plant may have been moved to South America.
Aluminum industry will soon disappear if Biden’s green energy push continues. China & India are are constructing 150 new coal fired power plants because it is the cheapest energy source. While the stupid liberals in United States are pushing in opposite direction.
There is a bunch more to this story of the closing of the Century Aluminium plant in Hawesville Kentucky that isn’t captured in the Breitbart article. I think the initial flashpoint for my attention was this comment that came from Century’s letter to their employees back in June.....
“Unfortunately, an unprecedented rise in global energy prices arising from the Russian war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the price of energy in the U.S. and around the globe.
The cost required to run our Hawesville, KY, facility has more than tripled the historical average in a very short period. Given these circumstances it is necessary to fully curtail operations for a period of approximately nine to twelve months at Hawesville until energy prices return to more normalized levels.”
The comment about the ‘Russian war in Ukraine’ didn’t sit quite right so I dug into it a bit more…. Here is what was found and it’s quite interesting.
- Century is (has been) the second largest aluminium producer in the United States.
- Century built the plant and a sister plant in the 1960s and one of the main factors in selecting the location was because of their access to cheap, reliable electricity that was from coal generated power plants in Kentucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWI9NTwuvl0
- In fact, Big River Coleman electrical plant is (was) right next door to the Hawesville plant… see map below.
- The Hawesville plant is (has been) the largest single smelter in the United States producing high purity aluminium (aluminium that is over 99.9% pure). They produce aluminium mostly for aircraft and US Defense Dept applications. One article I read said that this is the only plant that the Defense Dept buys (bought) aluminium from.
- In 2014, Big River deactivated the Coleman plant. The move came after “the plant’s two largest customers, aluminum smelters owned and operated by Century Aluminum Co., terminated a long-term power supply agreement with Big Rivers and started buying less expensive electricity off the wholesale power market…. .” https://www.gem.wiki/Coleman_Station
- In March, 2021 the Coleman plant was torn down after being in a state of idleness for 8 years… https://www.hancockclarion.com/2021/03/31/big-rivers-kenneth-c-coleman-power-plant-is-being-dismantled/
- Page 17 and 18 of Century’s 2021 annual report recognized that they were vulnerable to electrical rate fluctuations and loss of supply… but they made no changes… https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/NASDAQ_CENX_2021.pdf
- Then on Page 12 of a 2020 document called the ‘Sustainability Report’, it says this…..
“In the U.S., an increasing percentage of our electricity is generated from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. This percentage is expected to increase significantly over the next several years as the overall generation mix of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) system becomes increasingly based on renewable sources. We are also actively pursuing opportunities to add renewable power sources directly into the supply chain for our plants located in Kentucky through bilateral arrangements.”
So… here’s how to destroy a successful operation with a built-in and essentially permanent customer base in one short lesson.
- Let the bean counters in the company make the decision to move away from reliable power to something risky on the wholesale market.
- Depend more and more on wind and solar as part of some misguided environmental awareness program.
- Take no steps when the wholesale market triples your electrical cost…. Except shut it all down.
Bottom line is that Century mismanaged themselves into this predicament...
That is so true! Stock up folks!
“A good deal of aluminum in those e.v. batteries.”
**************************************************
That’s OK, China produces plenty of aluminum.
After all BUILD BACK BEIJING is the whole point of our resident DemocRAT overlords.
They’ll be stealing ‘em like catalytic convertors.
I prefer to call it the "Make Inflation Worse" bill. It's more accurate.
As Nancy calls it: “Funinflation”.
good analysis - I worked at the rolling mill until retirement in early 90’s and concur with you.
good analysis - I worked at the rolling mill until retirement in early 90’s and concur with you.
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