EuroWire January 2015

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Transatlantic cable
January 2015 26
Steel
Call it a non-relocation allowance:
$30.7 million in grants from Pennsylvania
to keep United States Steel in Pittsburgh
It seems that the very possibility of losing a prestigious big
company is enough to prompt a US state to o er substantial
inducements not to move. In October, Governor Tom Corbett of
Pennsylvania acknowledged that an award of $30.7 million in
grants to secure a commitment from United States Steel Corp to
stay put was based on fears – not any clear indications – that USS
would exit the state.
As reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , USS had never
said publicly that it was looking to pull up stakes in Pennsylvania.
But there had been speculation about a relocation elsewhere
in the region when the lease of its downtown Pittsburgh
headquarters complex expires in 2017.
“I think they were considering it,” said Mr Corbett. He cited Illinois
and Indiana, where USS has its largest mill, as states to which
he thought the company might move. Now, grants in hand,
USS will go ahead on a $187 million rehabilitation project at its
Mon Valley Works plants in West Mi in, Braddock and Clairton.
(“With $30.7 Million in State Grants, US Steel Promises to Stay in
Pennsylvania,” 3 rd October)
Melissa Daniels of the Tribune-Review noted that USS – “a Fortune
500 company somewhat down on its luck” – announced its
decision to stay in Pennsylvania on a date designated National
Manufacturing Day statewide. “I look at [USS] as partners
with Pennsylvania and partners with Pittsburgh,” Mr Corbett
said at one of the events. “To me, it would’ve been extremely
demoralising if US Steel’s headquarters left Pittsburgh.”
The assistance for its capital projects will be welcome to the
nation’s second-largest steel producer, which has not turned a
pro t in ve years. In April 2013 USS commenced an intensive
cost-cutting review of its operations.
In September 2014 it scrapped $800 million in expansion
projects in the US and led for court protection from creditors of
its money-losing Canadian subsidiary.
† Steve Kratz, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of
Community and Economic Development, said that the USS
award was the outcome of some six months of discussions
and that the timing of its announcement had nothing to do
with Mr Corbett’s re-election campaign.
In November, Mr Corbett won a second term as governor
anyway.
Elsewhere in steel . . .
† Essar Steel Minnesota LLC has said that it is on schedule
to begin producing iron ore pellets in the second half of
2015. The company closed on a nancing package for the
$1.8 billion project on 30 th September, enabling it to
complete construction of its open-pit iron ore mine
and crushing, concentrating, and pelletising facilities at
Nashwauk.
As reported by the Hibbing Daily Tribune (25th October), Essar
has said it expects to be the lowest-cost producer of taconite
pellets in North America. According to o cials of the
company it also will be the only US pellet producer with the
capability and exibility to produce standard blast furnace
pellets as well as uxed and direct-reduced grade pellets.
Annual production capacity of seven million tons is planned
for Nashwauk. Committed customers reportedly include
ArcelorMittal USA and Essar Steel Algoma.
† The US Department of Commerce on 14th November
con rmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel
wire rod from China after ruling that the products were being
sold below cost in the US market and received unfair levels
of government subsidies.
US importers of goods from companies including Benxi Steel,
Rizhao Steel Wire Co, Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron & Steel Co,
and Jiangsu Shagang International Trade Co, a subsidiary
of Jiangsu Shagang Group, face anti-dumping duties of up
to 110.25 per cent and anti-subsidy duties of up to 193.31
per cent.
Energy
Is the ‘bit player’ solar power about
to shine? Statistics suggest that the US
will soon have no reason not to go solar
Tim McDonnell, who has the climate beat at the non-pro t news
magazine Mother Jones, recently cited the “startling conclusion”
of a Deutsche Bank energy analysis: by 2016, in all but three
states of the US solar power will be as cheap as or cheaper than
electricity from the conventional grid. Without any changes to
existing policy.
In other words, wrote Mr McDonnell: “We’re only a few years
away from the point where, in most of the United States, there
will be no economic reason not to go solar.” (“Here Comes the
Sun: America’s Solar Boom,” 7th November)
The process is well under way. Over the past decade, the amount
of solar energy produced in the US has leaped 139,000 per cent.
Factors fostering the boom include cheaper panels, a raft of local
and state incentives, and a federal tax credit that shaves 30 per
cent o the cost of upgrading to solar.
Mother Jones collected this data on the solar advance:
† Since the mid-2000s the power generated by new solar
installations in the US has grown an average 66 per cent a
year, far outpacing that from any other energy source. From
zero in 2000, the capacity of new solar installations grew to
nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) in 2013. Of the new electrici-
ty-generating capacity installed in the US in the rst quarter
of 2014, solar accounted for 70 per cent; wind, 20 per cent;
natural gas, four per cent; geothermal and other, one per
cent each. (Source: SOLAR Energy Industries Association
[SEIA])
† Enough sunlight strikes Earth every 104 minutes to power
the entire world for a year. The US has sunlight and space
enough to meet 100 times its annual power demand with
solar. (Source: SEIA)
† As well as more power, solar can provide cleaner power.
Carbon savings from currently installed US solar panels
o set the emissions of 3.5 million cars. (Source: International
Energy Agency [IEA])