The Militant - January 15, 2001 -- Letters

Vol.65/No.2 January 15, 2001

Letters

Electricity rate gouging
The electricity price gouging that workers and farmers are experiencing in California and elsewhere on the West Coast appears to be a crisis manufactured by the drive for profit. The owners of some wealthy corporations are making a killing. The December 29 New York Times reported, "Lack of Power In the West Proves a Boon For Some." Kaiser Aluminum, which spent much of the past two years trying to bust the Steelworkers union, will earn $47 million in December by reselling electricity it contracted to buy at $22.50 a megawatt hour, back to the government for $555 a megawatt hour! In January Kaiser will receive $280 per megawatt hour.

Kaiser's aluminum smelter in Mead, Washington, is shut down. Company spokesman Scott Lamb explained, "We can generate far more cash by selling electricity than we can by making aluminum." It is good to note that Kaiser is producing nothing here. It didn't generate the electricity it is selling.

The Times reports further, "Under pressure from local and federal officials, Kaiser has agreed to pay its employees their regular wages and benefits for now, though it is unclear how long the company will continue to do so, as is the matter of when the plant will reopen." Kaiser could evidently keep up this particular method of raking in superprofits through October 2001.

Company spokesman Lamb claims Kaiser "certainly wants to do what is right and fair." Steelworkers and others in desperate need of affordable electricity may be entitled to a few doubts on that score.

Geoff Mirelowitz
Seattle, Washington

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