Alcoa denies rumored Intalco plant demolition

Three years after Ferndale’s Intalco aluminum smelter curtailed operations, the facility may be preparing to close its doors permanently.  Since it was mothballed in 2020, the facility has been operated by a skeleton crew — about a dozen people monitoring the site, keeping the lights on, the doors locked and the equipment ready to go — in the event a restart could be negotiated.  In recent weeks, the crew has been tasked with dismantling a piece of equipment vital to the sm