A? - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Company doesn’t have enough power, it says

Alcan to close a potline

_ ALCAN OFFICIALS have
denied they had already
decided to close'a potline
at ils Kitimat aluminum
smeller and put scores of
people out of work before
a crucial meeting with the
provincial government
took place.

The company had a

potline closure draft press”

telease circulating Dec. .6;
one full day. before: senior
Alcan official: Richard
Prokopanko and others met
with finance minister Paul
Ramsey in Victoria.

The closure was an-
nounced Dec. 8, the day
after Prokopanko’s mect-
ing. The press ‘release was
virtually identical to the
Dec. 6 version.

Alcan says it doesn’t

have enough waler in its.

Nechako reservoir to: both
power its smelter and to
fulfil a sales.-contract it
has with B.C. Hydro.

Ramsey, whois the
provincial cabinet minister
responsible for B.C. Hydro,
said he was surprised at
the speed at which Alcan
announced the closure ef-
fective Jan. 15.

He and cthers met with
Alcan union officials Dec.
6 and had plans for further
meetings with B.C. Hydro
officials.

“We were ready to
work on avoiding job loss
in Kitimat and we said
let’s continue to work on
that. Alcan said it wasn’t
interested in talking — let’s
shut down the potline,” he
said.

Alcan official Kathy
Bourchier said the closure
decision was reached after
the Prokopanko meeting.

The draft press release
was put together earlier in
the week after Alcan re-
ceived no indication there
was going to be any good
news, she said.

If there was any indica-
tion a dea! could be

reached, Bourchier said _
she | would , “haye , been.,

“delighted to write that
one” referring lo a press
release.

The contract is for 140
megawatts of power and
can’t be interrupted.

Ramsey said B.C.
Hydro -had already taken
over an Alcan obligation
to supply 30 megawatts to
Eurocan and would have
deferred delivery on an-
other 40 megawatts.

He estimated the total
cost to B.C, Hydro of this
at between $45 million

and $55 million a year.

Bourchier acknow-
ledged what B.C. Hydro
had done, but said it
couldn’t meet its other
conditions.

Those called for Alcan
to compensate B.C, Hydro
if it couldn’t supply the
power at a price the com-
pany could afford.

Citing three years of
low water inflow, Alcan
said it “must take this ac-
tion to conserve water in
the Nechako reservoir to
protect the power supply to
the rest of the smelter over
the winter months.”

The company says it
could restore full produc-
tion if more water flows
into the reservoir by spring.

While it seems no full
time workers will be hurt,
there'll be fewer temporary
workers and part time
ones.

The smelter now em-
ploys about 70 temporary
workers.

One problem facing the
company is Tahtsa Nar-
rows, the channel through
which water flows from the
reservoir to the hydro
power intakes.

It isn’t deep enough to
allow as much water to
flow through as Alcan
wants.

Ramsey noted that
Alcan shelved plans three
years ago to dredge.

“They made a bad mis-
take by ot doing, that. The

water ,;would, haye..been ‘|

able to flow more freely
and they would have been
able to generate all it
needed,” he said.

Ramsey said he didn’t
know if Alcan also wanted
to close a patline in hopes
of reducing its inventory.

“| would hope not,”
said Ramsey. “But [ can
tell you that’s a question

that will -be «asked, and.~-

asked pointedly by the
workers in Kitimat.”
Bourchier confirmed the
power sale contract is a
stand alone deal — in other
words the approximately
$30 million annual reve-
nues had not appeared on
the smelter’s balance

sheet and therefore had not
played a part in determin-
ing the financial perfor-
mance of the Kitimat
smelter.

That being the case,

she was asked why Alcan

didn’t simply take the hit
on its power contract and
preserve jobs at the smel-
ter. |
Bourchier. responded
that would be “an irre-
sponsible business deci-
sion — and you don’t pro-
tect jobs by taking irre-
sponsible business. deci-
sions.”

She also asked how
Alcan would be able to
justify that kind of action

to its shareholders.

Kitimat municipal and
business leaders are urging
Alcan, B.C. Hydro and the
province to find a solution.

“We believe there is
sufficient power available
to keep Alcan’s smelter
running at full production.
There. is not sufficient
power to both keep the
smelter. running and sell
power to B.C. Hydro for
exporl to the United
States,” said the Kitimat
Chamber of Commerce in
a press release.

“Jobs in British Colum-
bia are more important
than jobs in the United
States,” it said.

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