BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Residents with electric vehicles in the North Country will soon be able to charge in Mason as electric vehicle charging stations are installed.

The new charging stations are part of an agreement with Air Products, a green hydrogen production company that is building a facility on Pontoon Bridge Road in the town of Massena.

According to Town Attorney Eric Gustafson, the company was required to seek approval from both the town and village boards to install the stations.

Village officials signed off on the agreement first, quickly followed by town officials the following day during regular board meetings.

“What they’re looking for is a letter of intent that will authorize them to install electric vehicle charging stations,” Gustafson said during the town board meeting in September.

Gustafson detailed the agreement, saying Air Products and the Department of Environmental Conservation were in an agreement that in order to obtain the required air quality permits for the facility, the company would be required to install charging stations throughout Massena to show "they were working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Gustafson said the letter of intent required for Air Products to move forward authorized the company to install the stations as a donation to the town, subject to final agreements and specifics related to the projects, he said.

During the village board meeting, Mayor Greg Paquin also detailed the agreement, saying the charging stations would be placed around the village following a review process. The locations have yet to be determined, he said.

"They just have to put this letter in with our approval saying we are going to do this. If they aren’t doing it, we don’t want them,” he said.

Revenue generated by the charging stations would also come back to the village, he said.

Paquin went on further, saying those who would use the charging stations would likely receive a separate rate that was determined by the open market which would be separate from the rates a homeowner would pay for their own power.

“My belief is that they pay the rate of whatever the purchase power rate is on the open market. Massena is allotted X amount of power. Sometimes at high peaks, like when it’s hot out and everybody’s running their air conditioner, the amount of power that we’re getting from the Power Authority isn’t enough. So, Massena Electric has to go out in the open market and buy that,” which is more costly, he said.

With the agreements signed by town and village officials, Air Products will be able to take the next steps to install the charging stations as part of a $500 million project.

The facility will harvest 35 metric tons of green hydrogen daily on the 84.4 acre property once it becomes fully operational in the first quarter of 2027.