Chinese steel in LaG rebuild
LaGuardia Airport’s $4 billion facelift won’t be an all-American job, the Daily News has learned. Chinese steel will be used in the high-profile project meant to make the city’s second-best airport great again — infuriating the U.S. steel industry that says it can handle the demand.
A spokesman for the Port Authority told The News on Monday that Chinese steel will build some roadway bridges at the airport.
It’s also relying on steel fabricated in Canada for part of the Terminal B building.
The Port Authority said it’s in compliance with the mandates required by its funding.
“The public-private partnership contract has a requirement that 50% of the steel be domestic and LaGuardia Gateway Partners — our PPP partner — is meeting that goal,” the spokesman said.
LaGuardia Airport is not the only PA project using foreign steel. A contractor hired to overhaul a Holland Tunnel pier is using steel from cutthroat competitors in Turkey, Eastern Europe and China, the spokesman said.
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said the PA’s “blatant outsourcing” was at odds with Gov. Cuomo’s insistence on a “Buy American” clause in his latest budget — and at odds with President Trump’s “Buy America, Hire America” pledge.
“It is our hope that the Port Authority reconsiders using Chinese and foreign steel. There are thousands of unemployed factory workers anxious to get back to making steel here in America,” said Paul. “It is unacceptable that major public infrastructure projects in New York are providing jobs overseas.”
But it’s not just the Port Authority — the city Department of Environmental Protection also brought in Chinese steel for its work rebuilding the Hudson River aqueduct.
Even Trump has backtracked on his promises to make the Keystone XL Pipeline all-American, after it was revealed tons of foreign steel was already purchased for the job.
Mario Cilento, head of the state AFL-CIO, said it was “disappointing” to hear of the PA’s choices.
“We have the most highly skilled workers in the world as well as the infrastructure to do these types of jobs right here in New York. That’s why I applaud Gov. Cuomo for making Buy American a top priority,” he said.