MALAGA – Loads of raw materials have been arriving at the Alcoa Wenatchee Works as the aluminum smelter prepares to resume production next month – but the cats may have to move.
The tank loads are a positive sign for people who have waited for the north-central Washington plant to reopen. The plant has been closed for more than three years.
As employees prepare to return to their jobs, two cats that have called the plant home in recent months may soon be without one.
About four tankers of raw materials have pulled through the smelter’s gates each week in recent weeks. The tank cars contain liquid pitch used to make the carbon anodes that are one of the plant’s main products, said Alcoa spokesman Jim Baxter.
The pitch is a byproduct from steel mills in Portland, Ore., and Chicago, he said. Once inside the plant, the rail cars are heated up to 400 degrees so the pitch can be pumped out.
Wenatchee Works was idled in July 2001 when aluminum prices fell and the cost of energy skyrocketed. With wholesale aluminum prices up more than 20 percent in the past year, the company had sought to reopen the plant but demanded concessions from workers.
While the plant was idled, about 380 employees continued to receive paychecks through sales of Alcoa’s portion of electricity from the Chelan County Public Utility District.
Alcoa and union members reached an agreement on a new contract last month.
Earlier this month, Alcoa announced it would restart the smelter in December, three months earlier than anticipated, because of revenues from the sale of unused power.
The cats arrived once production shut down and activity ceased at the plant. Tina LaBelle, a night-shift security guard at the plant for the past nine months, took in one of the cats a few months ago after finding it weak and hungry.
She asked company supervisors if the cat could stay on the premises if she took care of it. With the plant quiet, no one seemed to mind. A second cat arrived later, but remains too wild to get close to, she said.
LaBelle said the cats may have to go once production begins. She has spread the word that the friendlier cat, named Tiger, needs a home.
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