U.S. Steel ends plans for $1.5B in upgrades at Mon Valley plant
HARRISBURG — Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. said Friday that it is canceling a $1.5 billion project to bring a state-of-the-art improvement to its Mon Valley Works operations in western Pennsylvania, saying the world has changed in the two years since it announced its intentions.
Project permits initially stalled by the pandemic never came through, U.S. Steel has added capacity elsewhere, and now it must shift its focus to its goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from its facilities by 2050, it said.
The loss of what would have been one of the largest industrial investments in Pennsylvania quickly led to recriminations by Pittsburgh-area politicians, labor unions and business organizations over why the project could never secure permits. Some worried it will diminish the future of steelmaking there.
“We had a window of opportunity and it’s absurd that we as a region have allowed that window to be slammed shut,” said Jeff Nobers, executive director of Pittsburgh Works, a coalition of labor unions, corporations and local business chambers.
U.S. Steel revealed the news in an earnings call Friday morning and in an “open letter” on social media.
It also said it will shut down batteries 1, 2 and 3 at its Clairton Plant by early 2023 — representing approximately 17% of coke production at the plant — to help reduce polluting emissions from equipment long-criticized as among the area’s worst polluters.
“The world is changing rapidly and we’re on the 10-yard line with 90 yards ahead of us,” David Burritt, the company’s president and CEO, said in the letter.
U.S. Steel said it does not anticipate laying off any of the 130 full-time workers at the three batteries, and that job reductions will come from retirements and reassignments.
The company’s plan had been to improve its steelmaking efficiency and reduce emissions at its Mon Valley Works operations.
Adding new casting and rolling technology at its Edgar Thompson Plant to allow it to combine thin slab casting and hot rolled band production into one process had been touted as the first of its kind in the U.S.
The Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council pinned the blame for the loss of the project on unnamed local elected officials that it accused of a lack of support and open hostility toward the company.
It will mean the loss of approximately 1,000 full-time union construction jobs and a longer-term threat to 3,000 workers at the Mon Valley Works, said Tom Melcher, business manager for the Building Trades Council.
