The permanent shuttering of the Century Aluminum plant in Ravenswood may be no surprise, but its inevitability doesn't make it less unfortunate for the community and the state.
"This news surprises no one who has been paying attention," said Ravenswood mayor and Republican Delegate Michael Ihle. "Unfortunately, political and economic factors were far bigger than our small town."
Those factors include the rising cost of electricity and a challenging global market for aluminum.
The plant went idle in February 2009, costing 650 people their jobs. The average salary at the plant was more than $50,000. At the time, it had been running for more than 50 years and was the oldest U.S. aluminum smelter in operation.
Until this week, some had held out hope that the plant could reopen. But the price of electricity remained an insurmountable hurdle. Century is focusing on expansion in other parts of the world, where energy costs are lower.
"We have worked diligently with local, state and federal officials, along with the power company, to reopen the smelter but we have been unable to secure a long-term, competitive power contract," said Century's CEO.
The plant's closure is yet another illustration of the very real costs of rising energy prices, driven in large part by Washington's crusade against affordable fuels like coal. It isn't merely families having to pay more to heat their homes. Entire industries are forced out of existence, livelihoods lost and workers displaced.
In this case as in many others, West Virginians are paying a heavy price for policies developed elsewhere, by people who seem to have little regard for the disruption they cause.
As state and local officials work to attract a new business to the Century site, they can only hope to find one with a business model that is relatively indifferent to energy costs - and that will be a difficult task.
For Jackson County and Ravenswood, the only good news this week is that the uncertainty is finally over.
"Our river city is filled with tough, beautiful people who are already turning our community around," said Ihle.
Although it's fair to wish that this story had ended differently, that attitude will serve the town well in the future.