County residents have a chance next week to show how important industry is to the area.

In the Friday, March 22, edition of the Butler Eagle, we learned about a town hall planned for 6 p.m. Monday, April 1, to discuss the future of Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works. The town hall, which will be held at Founders Hall at Butler County Community College, 107 College Drive in Butler Township, is being put on by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, to discuss the possible impact of a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The rule would change the material used to create electrical transformers from grain-oriented electrical steel to amorphous steel. Cleveland-Cliffs is the only U.S. producer of GOES, and there is also only one domestic producer of amorphous steel. The goal is to increase efficiency and reliability of the country’s electrical grid.

That is an important goal, but as critics of the rule have pointed out, it would leave the country dependent on more foreign steel production, and it would have a devastating impact in the county.

Cleveland-Cliffs’ payroll is more than $100 million a year locally, and the rule could eliminate as many as 1,300 jobs at the plant, in addition to the wider impact.

Kelly pointed out that Butler has seen similar issues before, such as when the Pullman Companys shut down in 1982.

“We’re also talking about the thousands of other local jobs that are connected to these jobs at Butler Works. The coffee shops, the restaurants, the stores who serve the workers from Butler Works,” Kelly said. “When Pullman left, many of the other jobs went with them. We can’t see that happen to Butler again.”

Leslie Osche, chairwoman of the county commission, pointed out the financial impact, as well.

“First of all, you take the property taxes, you're talking about $1.5 million, which primarily affects school districts; another $1 million in local taxes to many, many municipalities where the employees work,” Osche said.

Kelly and Chris DeLuzio, D-17th, have co-sponsored the Distribution Transformer Efficiency and Supply Chain Reliability Act of 2024, which would order the DOE to change efficiency standards so both GOES and amorphous steel could be used in electrical transformers.

That bill strikes a balance between the important goal of increasing the efficiency and reliability of the nation’s electrical grid while also ensuring the new standards don’t throw hundreds of people out of work.

— JK