Alcoa, the largest private sector employer in the area, plans to push ahead with modernisation plans, including the construction of a new potline at its Massena East plant. Plans are in place to spend $52 million between now and 2015, including at $10 million commitment towards economic development.
However, the whole plan rests on Alcoa receiving a ‘Record of Decision’ from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that falls in line with a Proposed Remedial Action plan issued by the EPA late last year.
Alcoa’s executive vice president and president of global primary products, Chris Ayers, said that modernising Massena will help the company move farther down the aluminium cost curve.
Ayers said the modernisation of Massena would ‘secure Alcoa’s place as a vital part of the North Country’s economy for decades to come’.