FERNDALE, Wash. – Alcoa announced Wednesday it is laying off 200 of the 600 workers at its Intalco aluminum smelter and cutting production in half because of high electricity costs.
“Energy is a key component of aluminum production, and today’s (Bonneville Power Administration) energy rates are among the highest in the world for our industry,” said Bernt Reitan, president of Alcoa Primary Products.
The Pittsburgh-based company initially planned to close the plant Sept. 30, but delayed the decision until Wednesday to give elected officials and others in the region time to work to mitigate a rate increase from the BPA.
BPA announced the rate hike of 2.2 percent two weeks ago.
Alcoa said that effective Nov. 1, it will cut production at the Ferndale smelter from 180,000 metric tons per year to 90,000.
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