EoW March 2013

Transatlantic cable

Mr Schafer was not entirely convinced. Obviously, he wrote, however irritated US Steel may become at greater regulation it cannot move its taconite mines out of Minnesota. Mr Surma himself said that – short of a dramatic, and unlikely, contraction in North American steel demand – there is not much that would cause US Steel to signi cantly reduce its level of investment in the state. Indeed, about a quarter of the company’s $800 million capital budget this year will go to Minnesota. On the other hand, commented the Star Tribune , there are choices that will come up some day, on where to build plants with newer technology or otherwise invest US Steel money. “It was very subtle,” wrote Mr Schafer. “But that message was delivered.” New, cleaner coke ovens at the Clairton Works of US Steel are expected to satisfy environmental objections US Steel has commissioned a battery of coke ovens at its Clairton plant about 20 miles south of the company’s Pittsburgh headquarters. Clairton is North America’s largest coke plant, producing about 4.5 million tons annually. The new C Battery, which will begin operating later this year, has a rated capacity of 960,000 tons of coke. The $500 million project was scaled back from a $1 billion proposal announced by the steel maker in late 2007, before the global recession caused the retrenchment of the industry. As reported by Len Boselovic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1 st February), the original intention was to build two new batteries. Under the modi ed plan, US Steel agreed to make environmental improvements to three existing batteries it had planned to demolish if the second battery had been built. According to Allegheny County Health Department data cited by Mr Boselovic, areas near the Clairton plant and a Neville Island coke plant operated by DTE Energy Services have had some of the dirtiest air in the region in recent years. At the commissioning ceremony at Clairton on 31 st January, US Steel’s president and CEO John P Surma said that the new battery uses technology that will enable the plant to signi cantly reduce emissions and meet certain air quality standards 18 months earlier than the target date set by state o cials. Mr Surma also said that US Steel is nearing completion of a coke substitute project at its Gary Works, in Indiana, that will produce 500,000 tons a year. Taken together with Clairton, the two projects will enable the company to supply all of its coke needs internally. According to Mr Surma, buying coke on the open market from sources in China, Ukraine and elsewhere costs the company almost twice as much as making it. † United Steelworkers union president Leo Gerard was at least as enthusiastic as the US Steel chief about the new C Battery, calling it “the most environmentally sound, emission reducing coke plant probably anywhere in the world.” The project secures the jobs of 1,300 Clairton employees as well as 1,400 who work at the company’s Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock and the Irvin plant inWest Mi in, both in Pennsylvania.

“It’s been di cult,” said MRP foreman Darren Colgan – a native of Bolton, England – of the recent mass layo s. “We’re slowing down now that the job’s coming to an end.” The Daily Record pointed out that this will also mean the end of some serious headaches. One World Trade Center is in the shape of a square at its base; becomes a series of interconnected triangles several dozen stories up; and is octagonal toward the middle. Not even the segments of the spire are without challenges. “It’s a nightmare,” Mr Colgan said. “It’s as though all the engineers got together in a room and asked who can make the most complicated design.” What is more, the new skyscraper had to adhere to new building parameters requiring strength su cient to withstand a powerful bomb blast or even moderate seismic activity. Mr Floyd, the company president, explained that in some respects this made construction “uniquely redundant”. “No one has ever done anything quite like this,” he said of the approxi- mately $3.8 billion construction project. “When we submitted our bid, I had a terrible sinking feeling that we’d be successful.” † The company’s hometown newspaper was reassuring. It will be di erent, Mr Spivey wrote, when One World Trade Center opens its doors for the rst time. According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owner of the building, the opening is slated for later this year, with some interior t-out continuing into 2014. Are copper-nickel projects drawing meddlesome attention to taconite mining in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range? On the same week of the Clairton announcement, John Surma gave a speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota. The theme was that the company he serves, US Steel Corp, has operated taconite mines a long time in the state and remains a major contributor to the economic vitality of northeastern Minnesota. As reported by business columnist Lee Schafer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune , it was a scarcely controversial message, delivered by a genial CEO to a friendly audience. But, Mr Shafer observed, “There was an agenda, of course, if you listened for it. It turns out US Steel is frustrated with regulators.” After the speech, when asked about what has changed in the way his industry is regulated in Minnesota, Mr Surma shared some discontents. He has perceived a “lack of clarity” in the regulatory process, and he knows where the blame lies. There seems to be, he said, “a lot more discussion, and a lot more people who seem to want to be in a position to say no.” (“US Steel’s Subtle Message on Its Frustrations with Regulators,” 1 st February). The Star Tribune’s Mr Schafer pointed out something else that has changed for US Steel in Minnesota: the presence of companies like PolyMet Mining Corp, which is seeking permits to begin production of copper, nickel, and precious metals at its mine and processing facility at the eastern end of the Mesabi Iron Range. And, behind PolyMet, there are other copper-nickel mining projects not as far along. Supplying context, Mr Schafer noted that mining for taconite is hardly a clean industry, but that it has experienced nothing like the kind of problems that have cropped up with copper and nickel mining in other parts of the world. PolyMet, he said, “has been grinding away on its permitting process for years.” When asked whether intensi ed environmental review of mining as a result of copper and nickel projects has changed the dynamic for US Steel in Minnesota, Mr Surma responded that copper and nickel mining is a di erent business from his. He said he wished those mining rms well. Elsewhere in steel

Telecom

Universities and communities in North Carolina join forces to nd providers willing to build them an ultra-high- speed broadband network “What’s not to love about gigabit broadband?” The question, posed by Marguerite Reardon of CNET News , has only one answer: nothing.

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March 2013