Alcoa breaks ground on $52M aluminum plant in NY

 Alcoa Inc. has broken ground on an expanded, more modern aluminum plant in northern New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that Alcoa will spend $42 million to prepare for modernization and added capacity at its plant in Massena, near the Canadian border.

Cuomo says the company will provide another $10 million to a development fund serving St. Lawrence, Franklin, Essex, Jefferson, Lewis, Hamilton, and Herkimer counties and on the Akwesasne  Mohawk Reservation.

The plant will get 478 megawatts of low-cost power from the New York Power Authority as part of a deal intended to maintain at least 900 jobs.

Alcoa, the largest private employer north of Syracuse, agreed in 2008 to spend at least $600 million upgrading operations in exchange for the hydropower.