By Stefan Spezio Last week, the fears of a whole community were confirmed when Ellenville's Hydro aluminum plant announced that it would be closing the doors to its extrusion facility, eliminating 262 jobs.

On February 24, The Times Herald-Record reported that Hydro was, "in advanced stages of discussions with a new buyer."

Less than a week later, Friday March 2, the company announced that it would be closing the doors to its extrusion plant, but continuing its cast house operation. The dramatic turn of events left many area residents and the company's employees wondering — what happened?

Allen Bennett, a vice-president of sales and marketing for Hydro's Ellenville plant explained, "The deal [to sell the extrusion facility] fell through right after that article was published." When asked who the buyer was or why the deal collapsed, Mr. Bennett responded that, "that information is still protected by certain confidentiality agreements."

The company's employees and public were made aware of Hydro's desire to sell the extrusion plant in June of 2006. Since that time the area had been holding its breath to hang on to the last major factory jobs in Ulster County.

The plant will continue with "business as usual" for the next 6 to 8 weeks, Bennett said. At that time, the facility will begin "ramping down" its production over the next few months. The reason for this is to maintain its customers' satisfaction.

With regard to its workers, during the meeting Hydro spokesmen discussed severance packages, including possible relocation to other company facilities. Mr. Bennett explained that there were no details available about any of these measures though he did say that, "Where possible, Hydro would assist skilled workers in relocating to new plants."

Workers interviewed on Friday were upset and frustrated. They complained about the fact that they found out about the plant's closing through the newspapers rather than being informed directly by the company. One worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said, "People in Baltimore are making all the decisions and aren't telling anyone below them what's happening. We had a right to know every step of the way before we got stabbed in the back."

While some considered future employment prospects, others were just angry.

One worker confessed that he would likely have to move out of the area to find a new job. When asked about the possibility of a Wal-Mart coming to the area and the possible jobs such a store would create he responded, " I worked at Wal-Mart before I worked at Hydro. Wal-Mart was a fun job, but it wasn't a real job."

Another worker blamed Hydro for its inability to sell the plant. He argued that Hydro's desire to sell only the extrusion plant and keep the cast house would be a sticking point in any deal as both buildings share electrical and water systems. The dividing of those systems would require a large investment to create separate systems for each building. The worker alleged that Hydro did not want to spend the money.

When asked about this, Mr. Bennett replied that the issue of shared utility usage had already been dealt with when the company was in talks with a previous buyer in August of 2006. Mr. Bennett went on to explain that the facility's closing was the result of decisions coming from the company's headquarters in Norway.

According to Bennett, a decision was made towards the end of 2005 that Hydro would change the company's strategy to increase its production of "upstream" rather than "downstream" goods.

"Upstream" and "downstream" refers to a material's place in production – an "upstream" facility (i.e. a cast house) creates the raw material (in Hydro's case, aluminum). A "downstream" facility (i.e. an extrusion plant) fabricates the raw material into usable pieces – hooks, tubing for chairs, heating, construction uses.

Bennett said the company's move in this direction includes a "multi-billion dollar operation in Qatar" and another large operation in Brazil. Bennett said that, "Ellenville was not core to this strategy," and that's why the facility was put up for sale in the first place.

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