Gov seeks to salvage aluminum mill deal promised to Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear made a pitch Thursday to a steel company that took over plans to build an aluminum plant once promised to Kentucky, hoping to salvage a deal struck by his predecessor.

Beshear said his economic development team has reached out to Steel Dynamics Inc., offering to show potential sites for the $1.9 billion plant. The company said this week it will build and operate the mill but did not specify a location, other than to say it will be in the southeastern U.S.

“We are very interested in working with them," the governor said at his weekly news conference. "We want to talk to them. We want their jobs to be in Kentucky.”

Steel Dynamics did not immediately respond to an email Thursday seeking comment. It took over the project after reaching a deal with another company that so far has failed to deliver on its promise to put the plant in Kentucky — even with financial backing from the state.

Indiana-based Steel Dynamics said it will own more than 94% of the facility through a joint venture arrangement with Unity Aluminum. Unity — formerly known as Braidy Industries — intended to build the mill near Ashland in northeastern Kentucky but struggled to line up sufficient financing.

Kentucky has its own stake in the project — a $15 million investment that then-Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, persuaded state lawmakers to approve to back Braidy. A Unity spokesperson offered assurances Wednesday that the state of Kentucky will recoup its investment.

Beshear's frustration with the years of promises from Braidy and then Unity boiled over Thursday. He said bluntly it will go down as the “shadiest economic development deal in Kentucky’s history.”

“We saw nothing for Kentucky," said Beshear, a Democrat who ousted Bevin in the 2019 election. “We were...