Steelworkers win power play
Kaiser could lose cheap electricity if feds adopt citizenship standards

By Bert Caldwell and Hannelore Sudermann -- Staff writers

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson tentatively approved a corporate citizenship clause Tuesday that could limit aluminum companies' access to cheap power.

Adoption of sound environmental, safety and labor practices in Bonneville Power Administration contract language would be a breakthrough for the United Steelworkers of America, who have advocated the guidelines as part of their campaign against Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.

The union has pushed the concept as part of a broad campaign to settle an 18-month labor dispute that has idled 2,100 workers in Spokane.

Some 20,000 Northwest residents, including Washington Gov. Gary Locke, have signed petitions supporting the standards. In January, Steelworkers President George Becker sent Richardson a letter asking him to endorse the rules and the formation of a public review board that would adjudicate possible violations.

BPA spokesman Ed Mosey said the agency will prepare a draft based on Steelworker proposals within the next 10 days.

Penalties could include loss of access to BPA's electricity, the lifeblood of the region's 10 aluminum smelters and other customers who buy directly from the federal power-marketing agency.

Tuesday's announcement was welcomed by Mead Steelworkers Larry Strom and Cathy Gunderson, who have logged hundreds of hours enlisting public and legislative backing.

Strom, vice president of the Mead local, has traveled across the country and camped in Washington, D.C., to talk with members of Congress and U.S. Department of Energy employees.

"This is not a Kaiser issue," Strom said. "Kaiser just serves as an example to show why we need this. It is a privilege, not a right, to have discounted power rates."

Negotiations on power contracts for the 2001-2006 period were due to start next month, but Mosey said Tuesday's announcement will probably set that timetable back one month.

Meanwhile, he said, the agency will take public comment on the proposed rules.

Ongoing union demonstrations at Bonneville's Portland headquarters have generated substantial public sympathy for their plight, Mosey said.

He said most testimony taken during last fall's rate hearings were also supportive, although utility customers opposed the idea.

"The requirements shouldn't be difficult for a company to meet," Mosey said. "We assume that the (smelters) are good corporate citizens."

Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Ashe agreed.

"As we've said all along, as far as we're concerned we meet any good corporate citizenship test," she said.

But she said Bonneville is ignoring the vast majority of its paying customers, who oppose the concept.

"It's simply a bad policy," she said. "It doesn't seem appropriate for a federal agency in the region to be taking on additional responsibility and making judgments based on some vague criteria."

Ashe said Bonneville, which has been struggling to satisfy increasing demand for its power, appears ready to sacrifice the smelters.

Strom suggested Kaiser may not be able to comply with the proposed citizenship standards.

The company, for example, was cited and fined $27,800 last year for safety violations at its Trentwood plant. Kaiser is appealing the fine.

In March, the Federal Mining Safety and Health Association fined Kaiser $533,000 for violating safety regulations at its refinery in Louisiana, which was extensively damaged by an explosion in July.

A criminal investigation also is being considered in that case because MSHA believes Kaiser employees may have tampered with evidence.

Mosey said Bonneville's other two main customer groups, the region's public and private utilities, will be exempt from the good citizenship requirements because they are subject to a vote of their members or oversight by state regulators.

Richard Glick, the Energy Department's senior policy adviser for electricity issues, said Energy Secretary Richardson and Bonneville Administrator Judi Johansen decided to develop the corporate citizenship guidelines after weighing legal and policy impacts and whether they will be best for the region and the country.

"This would be groundbreaking to some degree," Glick said, adding that some past power contracts have included environmental provisions.

"We have not made a final decision," Glick added.