Toomey to look at U.S. Steel
Company nixed $1.5B Mon Valley Works project
There was heartbreak and anger in the room.
“Honestly, I’m perplexed,” is how Sen. Pat Toomey, R- Pa., opened his discussion with local labor representatives and industry leaders on Wednesday, lamenting U.S. Steel’s decision to cancel its $1.5 billion project for the Mon Valley Works.
“Steel prices are strong. The economy’s going. Infrastructure is all anyone’s talking about,” Mr. Toomey said. “What happened? That’s the question.”
He was not alone. Although the group, which was organized by Pittsburgh Works Together, a yearold alliance between labor and industry, floated suspicions about U.S. Steel’s motivations, many wondered if there’s something government can do to reverse the company’s decision.
Chris Geronimos, business manager of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in Carnegie, found it “inconceivable that nobody in government has stepped forward and said, ‘This is craziness,’” about U.S. Steel’s decision.
“Our members would have worked on this project,” he said. “They’re frustrated. I’m frustrated.”
He pleaded with Mr. Toomey to “please give us some hope” that lawmakers can actually work together to solve problems like these.
Mr. Toomey reassured him it’s possible and that when it counted most, Congress did just that, passing a series of relief packages last year by large margins to mitigate income losses during government-induced shutdowns.
“I hope that shows that, at least in a serious emergency, we are able to work together and do big things, unprecedented things,” he said.
To that end, the senator sounded optimistic that Democrats and Republicans can work together again to pass some version of an infrastructure bill where their interests align — funding for roads, bridges, broadband and the like.
President Joe Biden has proposed a nearly $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which puts things like elder care and incentives for electric cars under the infrastructure umbrella and calls for tax hikes on high-income earners to pay for some of it.
Last month, Mr. Toomey joined a group of his Republican colleagues in proposing a rival, $568 billion infrastructure plan, which would stick to more narrow interpretations of infrastructure and would repurpose some COVID-19 relief funds that have already been approved but not spent.
“For me, it’s not about things like expanding Medicaid and free college,” he said.
He encouraged Democrats and the administration to quickly tackle the things on which they agree and leave the rest for another time.
When asked if Republicans, some of whom have questioned the results of the presidential election, would agree to vote on any plan backed by the administration, Mr. Toomey said the
Senate typically needs 60 votes to move forward — this would require just 10 Republicans to vote with Democrats on a bill. That’s an achievable threshold, he said.
“The vast majority of my colleagues understand that Joe Biden was elected president and that he is president. Most believe that we’ve got an obligation to try to work with him,” he said.
Labor leaders welcomed the news, stressing that in light of U.S. Steel’s decision, a federal infrastructure stimulus is even more important to this region.
Iron Workers Local Union 3 had already begun training apprentices in anticipation of the Mon Valley Works project, said Greg Bernarding, business manager for the local. Whatever happened to scuttle it, he said, Pittsburgh has plenty of other needs, like its thousands of “dilapidated bridges.”
“The last thing you need to see is a bus or cars going across a bridge and, next thing you know, they’re in the river,” he said, referencing the chilling images of an overpass that collapsed in Mexico City earlier this week, killing two dozen people aboard a subway train.
Mr. Toomey agreed, noting that with the economy doing well and with a likely infrastructure boost on the way, there will also be more need for steel.
As for U. S. Steel, Mr. Toomey said he’ll be reaching out to “someone senior” at the company for an explanation in the near future. His staff has already had preliminary discussions with the steelmaker, he said.
“I’m worried that a lot of this is related to this idea that we have to get to a zeroCO2 environment,” he said, calling the goal of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions “neither possible nor desirable.”