The very industries that lobbied for deregulation got killed. Around Missoula, Smurfit-Stone shut down some of its equipment. Louisiana-Pacific curtailed production. Montana Resources Inc., the Washington Corps. Eventually, Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. shut its doors and agreed to sell its electricity back to the Bonneville Power Administration.
Nobody seems to realize that.
They knew that commodity prices are historically unstable. Supply and demand fluctuate. The mills know that. Mining companies know that. That's why a lot of them sell their products forward in the market.