Huge aluminum smelter in Eastern Kentucky? 1,000-plus job site looming, Beshear says

Gov. Andy Beshear announced $500 million in federal funding Monday to support a sprawling “green aluminum smelter” in Northeastern Kentucky that could provide 1,000 jobs.

However, the project is not finalized and Northeastern Kentucky is one of several potential sites for the project.

In a rare public move, the governor announced that Century Aluminum “plans to potentially build” the first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in 45 years. Beshear said the plant alone would double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum industry and avoid an estimated 75% of emissions compared to a traditional smelter.

“The first $500 million towards the construction of this type of facility is something worth celebrating,” Beshear said.

The federal funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, which supports several investments in green energy. Both laws have been touted as key achievements during Democratic President Joe Biden’s first term.

It’s part of $6 billion announced Monday on projects aimed at slashing emissions in industrial facilities across the nation.

“Thanks to President Biden’s industrial strategy, DOE is making the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in the history of the United States,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement. “These investments will slash emissions from these difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and ensure American businesses and American workers remain at the forefront of the global economy.”

When asked if the federal funding was tied to the project coming to Kentucky, a spokesperson for Beshear said that it was a “Kentucky specific award.”

Under “location” for the project, the Department of Energy’s website says the company “prefer(s) Kentucky or Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.”

In the department’s project summary, the department notes, “Century’s preferred site for the Green Aluminum Smelter is in Kentucky,” but that it also continues to “evaluate sites in other states.”

Beshear said his administration worked hard to get the project’s funding approved.

“I‘m pretty excited today because there were literally dozens of trips where we made these requests, from the President to anybody else who would listen,” Beshear said. “This announcement is another step in our continued long standing relationship.”

What is primary aluminum? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it refers to “aluminum produced directly from mined ore.”

Northeastern Kentucky is no stranger to aluminum industry development announcements.

Former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who Beshear unseated in 2019, supported a $15 million state investment to Unity Aluminum, formerly Braidy Industries for a $1.7 billion, 500-job rolling mill. It was touted as a much-needed economic jolt for a region that has suffered due in part to the decline of the coal industry.

However, the investment was the source of controversy and criticism because the project never materialized.

The state eventually recouped its $15 million investment.

Unlike Braidy Industries, Century Aluminum is a large, international publicly traded company. Kentucky is already home to two Century Aluminum smelters, both near Owensboro.

Beshear said the project would support “1,000 permanent union jobs with strong wages,” as well as 5,500 construction jobs.

“A very important piece of the puzzle for this complex project has been set thanks to the work of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear,” Century Aluminum President and CEO Jesse Gary said in a statement.

“Northeast Kentucky is the preferred site location, and while a myriad of steps still needs to be resolved, from costs for development of the sites under consideration, utilities – including all facets of serving the site to cost and rate structure – workforce and incentives among others, we very much appreciate the tireless efforts and great leadership of so many from the commonwealth for achieving this critical milestone,”

Other announcements

Century aluminum was not the only bit of economic development news Beshear announced Monday.

Wieland North America Recycling intends to expand its scrap metal recycling operations in Shelby County. The project there could create “as many as 200 permanent jobs,” according to a news release from Beshear’s office.

Beshear said the project could be bolstered by “up to $270 million” in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2021, the German company moved its North American headquarters to Louisville.

The department’s release said Wieland planned to engage both Kentucky State University and Simmons College, the state’s two historically black higher education institutions, to create an “internship program for underrepresented STEM students.”

Also in Shelby County, Beshear mentioned that spirits company Diageo intends to “install heat batteries for deep decarbonization” of its Bulleit Bourbon facility. The project would create more than 100 construction jobs.

Beshear also mentioned that ISP Chemicals is “engaging in conversations” to build a chemical production electrification and heat storage project at their Calvert City chemical plant in far Western Kentucky. The projected investment is $70 million.