West Mifflin resident Dan Smith is elated about U.S. Steel’s pledge to pump $1 billion into upgrading its iconic Mon Valley Works steelmaking operations.
“I think it’s fabulous,” he said. “It’s great for U.S. Steel, making it more competitive, and should be good for the environment.”
Mr. Smith, his wife Bonnie, and about 50 other area residents turned out Tuesday evening at U.S. Steel’s training facility in Duquesne for the first of two sessions aimed at educating the community about the Pittsburgh steelmaker’s plans for securing jobs and the future of the company in the Mon Valley. An identical session was set for Wednesday.
The billion-dollar investment, announced last May, includes installing a combined casting and rolling mill at the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, the first of its kind in the U.S., and a cogeneration power plant — also a first of its kind — at the company’s coke works in Clairton.
The new system at Edgar Thomson will cut the time it takes to turn liquid steel into hot rolled coils from four days to 40 minutes, project manager Ron Ferchak told participants at one of four information stations set up around the room.
The system will eliminate the need to reheat steel slabs at the Irvin plant in West Mifflin, the third leg of the Mon Valley Works. That means Irvin’s hot strip mill will be shut down, but the plant will continue to do finishing work.
Cutting-edge technology will allow U.S. Steel to better compete in high-end markets, specifically the auto industry, the company has said.
Although the highly automated process requires less manpower, U.S. Steel isn’t planning any layoffs, according to Kurt Barshick, general manager of the Mon Valley Works complex, which currently employs about 3,000.
Employees “will have the opportunity to work in the new facility and we will train them,” he said Tuesday. “They will drop their wrenches and pick up laptops and volt meters.”
Layoffs aside, industry experts have said they expect job losses through attrition.
The shutdown of the hot mill at Irvin will leave Clairton with a surplus in coke oven gas. The cogeneration plant will use the gas to produce electricity for the Mon Valley Works facilities — reducing the amount of electricity the company buys — while an air quality control system will clean emissions generated by the plant.
The combination of shutting down the Irvin line, installing the more efficient casting and rolling mill, and using the cogeneration facility is expected to reduce emissions of particulate matter by about 60 percent, sulfur dioxide by about 50 percent and nitrogen oxides by about 80 percent, U.S. Steel has said.
Construction on the new caster and rolling mill is set to begin in September, with start-up expected in the fourth quarter of 2022. Full start-up of the co-generation plant is planned for mid-2023.
Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.
Correction: 12:30 p.m. Jan. 30, 2020 this story was updated to change the type of steel that is reheated at the Irvin Works.
First Published: January 29, 2020, 8:53 p.m.
