New York state has a long history of squandering huge amounts of taxpayer money on economic development projects that yield little to no returns.

A new report highlighting the state’s “Dirtiest Dozen” economic development deals ranked four Western New York projects at the top of the list.

The report, developed by the American Economics Liberties Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for corporate accountability, singled out the subsidy package offered to Plug Power to locate a facility in Genesee County – at a public cost of $4 million per job – as the worst of the worst.

“The most expensive economic development deal in New York history on a per-job basis, the clean energy corporation Plug Power received nearly $270 million to create just 68 jobs at a plant at the Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park site in Genesee County – and that amount doesn’t factor in the costs of local infrastructure to service the plant,” the report notes.