Intalco ponders future as BPA decision looms.(Bonneville Power Admin. considering raising rates)

The Bonneville Power Administration's plan to raise electricity rates about 15 percent has motivated machinists from the region to rally in opposition to the rate hike and travel to a BPA hearing in Portland on April 16.

BPA, which lost $300 million last year, has initiated a formal rate case proceeding in an attempt to raise power prices, and members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, including 300 workers from Alcoa Intalco Works and 300 from Alcoa's smelter in Wenatchee, plan to attend the hearings. They also plan to stop in Olympi