ALFRED — A jury has awarded a Mexico man $489,000 for injuries he suffered while performing welding work at a trash-to-energy plant.

Attorney Peter Clifford says a York County Superior Court jury on Wednesday awarded damages to 48-year-old Joseph Bordeau of Mexico.

Clifford says Bordeau was performing welding work at the Maine Energy Recovery Co. plant in 2009 when he was pinned to an I-beam by a heavy metal object that was being hoisted by a chain by a MERC crew.

He says Bordeau now suffers from chronic back pain and can work only four hours a day.

The MERC plant is no longer in operation.

A call to Casella Waste Systems, which owned the plant, wasn’t immediately returned.