RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — Company executives at Century Aluminum in Jackson County indicate they may be near time to make some critical decisions. The company made the statement along with the release of corporate quarterly earnings this week. Century has been working for the past three years on a plan which would clear the way to restart operations at the Jackson County mill. So far, it hasn’t happened.
The company said it was committed to restarting the Century operation in Ravenswood, but said doing so hinged on a number of things. All of those “things” have happened except an agreement with Appalachian Power which would enable the company to endure slow times in the aluminum market without having to bare the costs of power.
The company’s retirees and laid off workers made concessions in the agreement. The state legislature also acted to pass a law which clears the way for the unique arrangement, but no deal has been reached on the power company. The impasses is frustrating to many.
“If Century is genuinely sincere that their top priority is to restart that plant as they’ve stated time and time again, then I think we need to see why that cant’ happen,” said Karen Gorrell, Spokesperson for the Century Retirees organization.
Gorrell says she and other representatives of the retired workers have met with company officials about the prospects of a restart. Retirees have agreed to many concessions in their pension agreements to get the restart. At this point, Gorrell says she and the retirees still aren’t sure who is to blame for the delay.
“If APCO is being a hurdle, then APCO needs some attention from the public and I’m the first person to be out there to give them heck,” she said.
But Gorrell said she’s not ready to blame Appalachian Power just yet. The situation in Ravenswood is not unique. The problem is dogging the aluminum industry nationwide. Electric power is a key component in the manufacturing process. Some indicate power is literally half the cost of production.
“I just can’t believe as bad as we need good paying jobs in this state we can’t make this happen. I’m ready to go for it and find out why,” Gorrell said. “If it’s Century we deal with that and if it’s APCO, we deal with that.”
During the initial discussion of the power company arrangement three years ago, Appalachian Power balked at the notion of deferred payments during a downturn. They have stated it would be unfair to other rate paying customers to force them to subsidize the power at Century.
Company executives seemed to indicate in this weeks’s statement the window of opportunity to get a deal in place to restart the mill may be near closing. Others speculate the statement may have been a play by Century officials to trigger more public pressure on Appalachian Power to make concessions and agree to the company’s terms on a power sale arrangement.