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. 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.
Now Beshear, who unseated Bevin in 2019, is trying to deliver on what he says would be a game-changing project for the region and continue the state’s record-setting pace of economic development growth during the Democrat’s tenure. Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party, won reelection to a second term last year in what otherwise has become a Republican-dominated state.
The project would create about 5,500 construction jobs and then about 1,000 permanent union jobs, the governor said. The new smelter would double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum industry while avoiding an estimated 75% of emissions from a traditional smelter due to its state-of-the-art, energy efficient design and use of carbon-free energy, he said.
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