Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works, and by extension, the entire region, got some good news this week when the U.S. Department of Energy announced its revised efficiency standards for electrical transformers.

As reported in the Friday, April 5, edition of the Butler Eagle, after months of anxiety over the new standards, the Department of Energy listened to concerns about job loss and infrastructure security and made a significant change to the standards.

The original proposal would have raised the efficiency requirements for the steel used in electrical transformers beyond what Cleveland-Cliffs, the only domestic maker of the grain-oriented electrical steel used in transformers, could meet.

That could have meant the loss of as many as 1,300 jobs, not to mention the ripple effects caused by so many job cuts.

On Thursday, the DoE announced the standards were being revised, giving Cleveland-Cliffs five years instead of three to meet new efficiency standards. And Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said the change was because of the feedback from those involved in the industry.

Energy efficiency is important, and even small gains can make a huge difference in an electrical grid the size of the United States’. But with only one domestic company making the amorphous metal transformers the original rule would require, the new rules risked forcing the U.S. to rely on international suppliers, in addition to the economic problems it could cause locally.

The revised standards show how important it is for multiple levels of government to work together. Without the advocacy from industry officials, as well as elected officials like Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and Gov. Josh Shapiro, as well as the Butler County commissioners and others, the revisions might not have happened.

The new rules show how the system can work to balance differing — and sometimes seemingly opposing — goals. That is worth celebrating.

— JK