Discussion topics ranged from economic factors that affect the viability of Rockdale Operations to how the local plant is affected by strategies and customer base of industries such as aerospace and automotive.
The company closed down the 50-year-old, lignite-fueled Sandow Power Plant as directed in a federal court motion filed by the U.S Department of Justice on the behalf of the EPA in November.
The move was aimed at clearing the way for TXU to build a proposed Sandow 5 Power Plant at the Alcoa compound located near Rockdale.
Sixty-three employees will be laid off as a result of the shutdown, but those people will remain at the facility until the middle of this month, performing tasks associated with the closing.
Alcoa and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 2078 have been negotiating for a settlement regarding the placement of the power plant employees, according to company spokesman Jim Hodson.
At the meeting, Mine and Power Manager Paul Pereira discussed the rerouting of Highway 696 near the Three Oaks Mine.
Coal mined at Three Oaks is used as fuel for power plants that generate electricity to run potlines that make aluminum. Some aluminum is transferred to an automizer that makes aluminum paper products, but most of it goes to a casthouse where the aluminum is made into sheet, foundry and other aluminum products.
Mining, power generation and manufacturing began in 1952 for national defense purposes. The newest potline began operating in 1969, and the power plant unit that is now TXU 4 was built in 1981. The first two potlines were permanently closed in 2004.
Rockdale Operations employs residents of 59 communities in 15 counties surrounding the facility. They represent 59 percent of Milam County
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