Expensive electricity played a role in FMC Corp.'s announcement this morning that it will close its Baltimore facility. But electricity isn't the whole story, as it was in the shutdown of Alcoa's Eastalco plant near Frederick. Other costs -- labor, transportation -- also look like they made Baltimore uncompetitive. Here is an excerpt from a May column on electricity costs and Maryland manufacturing competitiveness:

At FMC Corp.'s Curtis Bay plant, which makes agricultural chemicals, employment has fallen from more than 350 five years ago to 135 now as the company has shifted production elsewhere, largely to Asia, said Frank Siwajek, director of the company's North American operations.

Electricity is one cost among many - labor, transportation, fuel oil for boilers - that challenge FMC's facility. But rising power bills haven't helped.

"Are we moving things just because of energy by itself? No," says Siwajek. "But when you look at total costs, energy is certainly one of the key components."

Maybe more on this in Sunday's paper.