Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works expansion plan tabled until April
BUTLER TWP — A $195 million expansion to Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works is waiting a little longer for approval from the township’s planning commission.
Butler Township zoning officer Jesse Hines said at a planning commission meeting Tuesday, March 3, that Cleveland-Cliffs sent the township a letter asking for the commission to table the expansion until April.
He said the company asked for additional time before again presenting its sizable expansion plans. Cleveland-Cliffs has yet to resubmit the plan, but said he hopes they do so before the next meeting.
The project, which was first brought to the planning commission in December, looks to expand the facility’s current hot mill, as well as construct several structures around the property.
The expansion will push the facility’s edge closer to Bessemer Avenue and the hillside it’s on. The plan included a concrete-face retaining wall with soil nails — reinforcements inserted into the hillside — to hold them back.
As a result, the plan faced concerns about whether the nails would be a liability issue. Representatives from Cleveland-Cliffs explained the company was pushing closer to the street because of the layout of the mill.
“The intent of the location of this is really relative to the existing facility operations. These furnaces have to be located here in order for the current process to continue to be cohesive,” Civil & Environmental Consultants’ project manager Rachel Upadhyay said at the December meeting.
In February, facility general manager Aaron Steinheiser said the remaining work included a stormwater permit, a survey, a title search and a maintenance agreement with the township for the nails.
The project is expected to increase the number of jobs the facility will offer. Butler Works currently employs about 1,300 people.
Civil & Environmental Consultants’ project manager Rachel Upadhyay said in December Cleveland-Cliffs hopes to have the expansion operational by July 2028.
