There's right and wrong in this world, and there's good and evil, but what Century Aluminum and its chief executive officer Mike Bless have done to that company's retirees at the former Ravenswood smelter is both wrong and evil.
At the same time, however, there is no chance whatsoever that the Ravenswood plant will ever reopen. It's closed for good ... forever.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and other politicians are wasting their time and taxpayer money trying to reverse the inevitable and sad decision to close what once was one of this state's premier manufacturing facilities, providing many with wages of $50,000 or more annually.
Century chose to keep its West Virginia plant shuttered even in years when aluminum prices soared to record highs. With world prices tanking in a major way, was there any reason at all to believe - or even hope - that the company would reopen a facility closed since February 2009?
That was wishful thinking at best. Yet that's been going on here for the past six years or so.
Tomblin and the other politicians should focus instead on the plight of the company's 752 living retirees, many of whom faced extreme financial hardships when Century reneged on its promises to pay for their health care and other retiree benefits.
Those promises were a major reason many Century workers toiled under grueling and sometimes hazardous conditions at the Ravenswood smelter in Jackson County.
The retirees are receiving pensions from the company. The truth is, that monthly pensions of only $600 to $700 fall far short of what's needed to survive these days, especially in the crucial years before they qualify for Social Security and Medicare.
Put bluntly, many Ravenswood retirees have been forced to choose between food on the table and health care.
"In the big picture, we deserve what we paid for those benefits over the years," Karen Gorrell, who represents the Century retirees, said in a radio interview with WV Metro News. "We're asking for $44 million which is what we should have received.
"As I told Mike Bless, 'We're out of time, Mike.' I'm one of the babies among the retirees and I'm 65. This needs to be done and it needs to be done now," she said.
To blame Ravenswood's demise on President Obama's so-called "War on Coal," as some politicians have done, is absurd.
First of all, the seeds of Ravenswood's destruction were sown many years before Obama even took office, dating back at least to the early 2000s. Industry experts were forecasting the imminent rise of China as the dominant force in the aluminum market as far back as 2001.
Moreover, aluminum has always been by far the most energy-intensive of any of the major metals. To put it simply, automakers like aluminum these days because it's much lighter than steel. That means they can put more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road and meet the Environmental Protection Agency's ever-more stringent gas mileage standards.
But there's a huge trade-off because aluminum consumes far more electricity. Always has, always will.
That means higher energy costs. Inability to reach a favorable power contract, combined with fierce price competition from China, killed the plant.
So, what should the Century retirees do?
If I were advising them, I'd say "raise hell" about your plight until someone finally takes notice and does something about it. Don't count on the 'goodwill' of Century's Mike Bless or meaningless words from politicians such as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who yaks about how she "hopes" they can get some "help" with receiving their promised health-care benefits.
As a writer who has covered manufacturing for 40 years, I'd say that's a road to nowhere. Look at the remains of the devastated domestic steel industry as a case in point. Examine all the political blather from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (and many others) and ask where Weirton Steel is today. Out of business is the answer.
The Century retirees should stage as big a statewide protest as they possibly can.
Take your case to the numerous 'talking heads' on cable TV and anyone else who might listen.
March into the upcoming Century Aluminum shareholders' September meeting in Chicago and raise hell.
That way, somebody, somewhere might do the "right thing" and cough up the $44 million that's due you.
Marty Chase covered manufacturing, international trade and metals for nearly 40 years for several national publications and served as business editor of the Gazette in 2002-03. Now retired, he lives in New York City and Elkins.