WEIRTON — A number of federal
legislators have sent a letter urging
Mittal Steel USA to consider the sale of
its steel properties in Weirton if it is
forced to divest mills because of the
merger between Arcelor and Mittal.
U.S. Reps. Bob Ney, R-Heath, and Ted
Strickland, D-Lisbon, have sent the
letter to Lou Schorsch, chief executive
officer of Mittal Steel USA.
A total of 14 other members of the Ohio
legislative delegation have signed the
letter.
The letter states, “As recently as last
year, this facility employed nearly
2,300 workers in a fully integrated
steel mill. The decision to indefinitely
idle the ironmaking and steelmaking
facilities at Weirton has resulted in
the permanent termination of nearly
1,000 workers.”
It was a little more than a year ago
that Mittal idled the ironmaking blast
furnaces, the steelmaking Basic Oxygen
Plant and the slab-making continuous
caster at Weirton. The company had said
it was considering a restart of the
facilities if business conditions
warranted last fall, but then announced
around Thanksgiving they were
permanently idled.
Buyouts for terminated employees were
offered in the spring, with a few dozen
who chose to remain on a callback list
returning to work in the plant’s
finishing mills.
The letter to Mittal states, “Now that
the Mittal Steel bid for Arcelor has
taken a major step forward, we
understand Mittal Steel may be required
to divest itself of steel assets in the
United States in order to avoid
antitrust issues. If Mittal’s other
ventures require a U.S. sale, we
strongly urge you to consider selling
the Weirton plant to the employees and
an investor that the employees can
partner with to save jobs in Weirton.”
At issue is the status of Canada’s
Dofasco steel firm. Europe’s Arcelor won
a bidding war for Dofasco prior to
Mittal’s bid for combining with Arcelor.
Mittal officials have said the steel
firm would consider spinning off Dofasco
to Germany’s Thyssen Krupp, which lost
the bidding war for Dofasco to Arcelor.
However, Arcelor officials have
indicated the firm wants to keep Dofasco.
U.S. antitrust officials are looking at
the overlap of products in the combined
Arcelor-Mittal, with tin being one of
the major overlaps. Mittal officials
have said tin is the future for the
Weirton plant, relying on Weirton’s rich
history as one of the world’s leading
tin producers.
However, tin also is produced by the
Mittal USA Sparrows Point, Md., plant,
as well as by Dofasco plants, leading to
concerns about the status of Weirton in
Mittal USA’s future.
The Independent Steelworkers Union at
Weirton has spoken with a steel
investor, Mitch Hecht, who says he’s
made an offer to Mittal to buy the
ironmaking blast furnaces to operate
them in a research capacity, not
necessarily as a profit center. He would
install a cold caster for iron to take
the output of the blast furnaces.
There has been no further publicity
about Hecht’s offer since it became
public in early May.
The ISU said of Ney’s release of details
about the letter to Schorsch that it
continues to keep all options open.
“We have an ironmaking and steelmaking
facility in Weirton that we believe is
very viable and we continue to hope it
will be restarted in the near future,”
said Mark Glyptis, ISU president Friday.
“We’ve always appreciated the support
from Congressman Ney for the steel
industry and the steelworkers of the
Ohio Valley.”
Ney said in a release Friday about the
Mittal letter, “Allowing the sale of the
Mittal Steel Weirton plant to its
employees would be incredibly beneficial
for all involved. Reinstating ironmaking
and steelmaking at this facility will
not only bring back thousands of jobs to
Weirton but will improve the Ohio Valley
economy as well. I strongly encourage
Mittal Steel to consider this option, as
it can only provide positive results for
everyone.”
Other members that signed the letter to
Mittal Steel include Democratic Reps.
Sherrod Brown, Marcy Kaptur, Tim Ryan,
Stephanie Tubbs Jones; Republican Reps.
Steve Chabot, Paul Gillmor, Steven
LaTourette, Michael Oxley, Deborah
Pryce, Ralph Regula, Jean Schmidt,
Patrick Tiberi; and Republican Sens.
Mike DeWine and George Voinovich,
R-Ohio, according to a release from
Ney’s office.
