Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Columbia Falls never was an ideal location for an aluminum plant. It had access to cheap hydropower, partly from Hungry Horse Dam, but bauxite, the ore from which aluminum metal is produced, was shipped to the plant by rail. Eventually, and predictably, adverse economics led to the plant’s closing in 2001.
Since then, hope has sprung eternal among former plant workers and Montana politicians, who kept seeking cheap power for a plant long after it was clear that plant never was going to reopen as a six-pot line operation.
Writing in this week’s Hungry Horse News, Richard Hanners summarized the pathetic state of the plant:
The CFAC plant has barely run since it completely shut down in January 2001. The four pot rooms in the original West Plant are completely gutted, and many of the anodes in East Plant were damaged when incorrect carbon-paste briquettes were used. But a small crew of maintenance workers have worked hard to keep the plant ready for the day energy, raw material and metal prices justify an expensive re-start.
And now, Hanners reports, the plant may be cannibalized for parts for the Sebree aluminum plant in Kentucky:
…talk about four to six Sebree employees scheduled to visit the CFAC plant on Monday, Dec. 9. According to sources, they were flying here to look over equipment that could be sold or transferred to Sebree — generic industrial equipment that could be vital to CFAC’s operation and difficult to replace.
CFAC never will reopen. The only question remaining is whether its current owner, Glencore, will pay for cleaning up the remains of the plant and its grounds.