FRANKFORT, Ky. — An aluminum company has singled out northeastern Kentucky as its preferred site for a new aluminum smelter that would bring about 1,000 permanent jobs to an Appalachian region hard hit by the loss of coal and steel production, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.
The governor is hoping that a state incentives package will help close the deal. He predicted that state lawmakers will provide “the tools that we need” in the closing days of their legislative session.The company's president and CEO, Jesse Gary, did not attend the news conference but said in a statement that a “myriad of steps" must still be resolved and that multiple locations are still being evaluated, but he pointed to northeastern Kentucky as the preferred location.
Century says it is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the United States and also operates production facilities in Iceland, the Netherlands and Jamaica. The region's renewed prospect of becoming home to an aluminum smelter offers an “incredible opportunity” for an area that's “been through the ringer,” said Boyd County Judge-Executive Eric Chaney, who was among several area leaders who attended the news conference with Beshear.
The Department of Energy, in a separate news release, said the new plant would be the cleanest and most efficient aluminum smelter in the world. “While we all recognize that it’s not a done deal and there is more work to come, a $500 million grant, if it is built in this region, is a pretty good place to start,” Beshear said.pumped storage hydropower facility on a former coal mine site in Bell County in southeastern Kentucky. The project — also backed by a federal grant — will create about 1,500 construction jobs, 30 operations jobs and enough energy to power nearly 67,000 homes each year.