LTV to restart west side blast furnace to meet demand.
Gov. Bob Taft will announce a $110 million program tomorrow to help Ohio's ailing steel makers, a source close to the governor said yesterday.
The state package will include loans, grants and other aid to help steel mills modernize, buy pollution-control equipment and train workers, the source said. Taft, accompanied by union leaders and steel executives, will roll out details at a news conference at the state's Cleveland Regional Development Office in downtown Cleveland.
"We believe this will help stabilize the steel industry in Ohio for the short run but know that it is not enough to save it overall," said the administration source. "The state package is a temporary reprieve for Ohio's steel industry."
The proposal comes as Ohio steel companies are being clobbered by surging steel imports, falling prices, soaring energy costs and a sudden slowdown in demand. Amid that mayhem, steel makers have turned to state, local and federal governments for import quotas, financing aid and other help in weathering the crisis.
Three steel companies with Ohio operations - Cleveland-based LTV Corp., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. and CSC Ltd. of Warren - are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and nearly every steel maker in the state is being affected by the downturn.
The source said the aid package was put together after the Ohio Steel Council met Friday in Cleveland with Taft, state Senate President Richard Finan and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. At the meeting, company officials asked the state for tax relief, help with capital-projects funding, an easing of steel-trucking regulations and assistance with worker training.
The Ohio Steel Council is a decade-old partnership of companies and government groups cooperating to make steel makers more competitive globally.
In recent weeks, Taft has been meeting with steel executives and United Steelworkers Union leaders and has toured LTV’s vast and gritty complex in Cleveland and the Wheeling-Pittsburgh plant in Steubenville to hear about the industry’s challenges. Some, such as the import surge, are obvious. Others are less so: LTV, for instance, said it expects to be hit hard this year by retirements and will need to train replacements, but it has halted its training programs, to conserve cash.
Ohio is one of the nation’s biggest steel-producing states. The industry’s impact on the state’s economy is estimated at $8.7 billion a year. The Steel Council estimates that mills employ 35,400 workers and that the industry affects the jobs of more than 100,000 Ohioans. Much of Ohio’s steel goes into cars, trucks, household appliances and a wide range of other consumer and industrial goods.
Last year, steel imports surged to near-record levels for the third year in a row, causing prices to fall as much as 35 percent. At the same time, natural-gas prices soared, and the economy went into its current slide.
One industry official yesterday expressed appreciation for the state’s efforts and said it would help stabilize the industry but won’t be enough to save it.
"It’s a wonderful step in the right direction," said Mark Tomasch, a spokesman for LTV, which has 6,500 workers in Ohio.
Tomasch said the ultimate solution to the industry’s problems will require involvement of all aspects of government, particularly federal enforcement of trade laws, and even foreign-policy issues. |
