Columbia Falls Aluminum plant to shut down

Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. on Tuesday announced to workers it was shutting down its plant here.

The shutdown takes effect Feb. 23. The move means about 200 employees will be out of a job.

“This measure is due to the high cost of energy and raw materials, a worldwide accumulation of aluminum inventory, and the continued drop of aluminum prices in a stagnant market,” the company said in a notification to employees.

By law, CFAC must give employees at the plant 60 days notice.

The company curtailed production and laid off more than 100 workers this summer. This is not the first time the aging plant has shut down.

It shut down entirely in January 2001, during the West Coast power crisis, when wholesale power prices skyrocketed and the plant actually was able to sell power it had contracted back on the open market. The plant the restarted in March 2002, but has never gone back to full capacity.

Also added into the mix was a Ninth Circuit Court decision last week that, in short, ruled that the Bonneville Power Administration wasn’t obligated to sell power to aluminum companies, said Haley Beaudry, CFAC’s external affairs manager.

The decision said BPA could sell power to the companies, but it wasn’t obligated to do so. BPA currently has a contract with CFAC that partially subsidizes the plant’s power costs, but CFAC actually buys its power on the open market.

Beaudry said the company was not, however, announcing a permanent shutdown of the plant.

The plant’s shutdown comes during a time of sharp economic downturn in the Flathead Valley.

Plum Creek has announced layoffs as has Semitool, and the construction housing market, which has been booming in the past decade, has also taken a significant hit.