Ready for a good laugh.

ALCOA chose to move their smelting plant to Iceland to avoid any problems with Kyoto Protocol. Did they take the bull by the horns and look for a better and more efficient smelting process as the UAE has done? No. The American tin foil maker found out that Iceland is geothermal and is exempt form Kyoto Protocol because it did not produce carbon dioxide pollution.

That is an American company for you. Find a way to cheat and make it a hero's tale. NOT. Alcoa is no more a global hero than any metal production in Third World countries. Alcoa is a Third World aluminum producer and should be followed with intense scrutiny by the global community.

Alongside a glacier-fed fjord by the Norwegian Sea, (click here) Bechtel carved out a job site to construct Alcoa’s first primary smelter in 20 years. Fjarðaál was the largest private investment in Iceland’s history and Bechtel’s first experience in the island nation near the Arctic Circle. 

Designed as a zero-waste-to-landfill project, the Fjarðaál smelter is among the most environmentally sustainable facilities of its type. Mirroring our customer’s environmental commitment, Bechtel worked closely with vendors and suppliers to ensure the return of reusable materials, and we contracted with local firms for recycling. In the end, more than 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills.  For our efforts, Bechtel earned Iceland's highest environmental award, the Conch....

The Icelandic people were and are furious about this Alcoa mess. Guess how they can brag about being environmentally responsible. Go ahead, guess. 

They ship everything in and out of Iceland. The metal to be smelted is brought into Iceland by boat, the product is shipped out of Iceland along with all the waste products. Of course there is no landfill issue, because, Alcoa dumps their waste elsewhere. 

I haven't investigated the possibility, but, it is my guess there has been a boat accident somewhere that resulted in pollution from the Alcoa Iceland plant. Where does Alcoa take it's pollution? Probably China.

February 3, 2016
By Reuters

New York (Reuters) - The U.S. government (click here) has granted aid to workers at Alcoa Inc's Intalco aluminum smelter in Washington state, after they complained that Chinese dumping threatened their jobs, according to a federal ruling.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) granted Trade Adjustment Assistance to the 500 workers at the 279,000 tonne-per-year facility, which is slated to suspend production at the end of the second quarter, in a letter signed late last week and published on Tuesday.

The program provides payments and job training to workers who lose their jobs because of competition from abroad.

The ruling in favor of the Alcoa workers could serve as evidence in a potential trade case as tensions with China's aluminum industry build.

The approval also comes as low aluminum prices have forced U.S. smelters to stop or slow output, and U.S. production in 2016 is expected to be the lowest since the years immediately following World War II....