On this West Virginia Morning, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 571, creating an Advanced Energy and Economic Corridor Authority for Corridor H. Curtis Tate spoke with Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael about the importance of Corridor H to the state. Before that discussion, though, they talked about some breaking news about a steel plant in the Northern Panhandle.
On this West Virginia Morning, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 571, creating an Advanced Energy and Economic Corridor Authority for Corridor H. Curtis Tate spoke with Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael about the importance of Corridor H to the state. Before that discussion, though, they talked about some breaking news about a steel plant in the Northern Panhandle.
Also, in this show, our Mountain Stage Song of the Week comes to us from Phish. We listen to the band’s performance of “All Things Reconsidered.” It’s guitarist Trey Anastasio’s variation on NPR’s All Things Considered theme, and this performance marks the only time it was ever performed live by the band on National Public Radio.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
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West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, and Randy Yohe.
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On this episode of The Legislature Today, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 571, creating an Advanced Energy and Economic Corridor Authority for Corridor H. Curtis Tate spoke with Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael about the importance of Corridor H to the state.
On this episode of The Legislature Today, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 571, creating an Advanced Energy and Economic Corridor Authority for Corridor H. Curtis Tate spoke with Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael about the importance of Corridor H to the state. Before that discussion, though, they talked about some breaking news about a steel plant in the Northern Panhandle.
In the House, there was a lengthy, emotional, life and death debate over the pros and cons of euthanasia and medically assisted suicide.
In the Senate, the chamber focused on voting, with three out of five bills relating to voting or voter ID. Briana Heaney has the story.
Also, whether or not to teach middle schoolers about fentanyl and overdose-reversing medicine sparked discussion in the House Education Committee, while Senate Education modified a House bill on special education. Chris Schulz has more.
Finally, West Virginia State University is one of the state’s two HBCU’s, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It was WVSU Day at the Capitol, where school leadership worked the shoe leather, as they say, to see big dollar budget legislation passed.
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The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.
Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
The Cleveland-based company said an unfavorable ruling from the International Trade Commission was behind the move.
Last year, Cleveland Cliffs and the United Steelworkers petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare unfair trade practices on foreign tin and chromium coated sheet steel products.
Commerce then imposed tariffs on four countries: Canada, China, South Korea and Germany. However, the International Trade Commission rejected the tariffs earlier this month.
Cleveland Cliffs said the plant’s workers would be offered opportunities to transfer or receive severance.
West Virginia’s U.S. senators reacted negatively to the Cleveland Cliffs announcement.
“While little consolation to the hardworking men and women facing this incredible loss – and to the Weirton community at large – I fought to sustain operations there since learning of Cleveland Cliffs’ and the United Steelworkers’ concerns with unfair trade practices last year,” said Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. “As I have said before, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s final decision announced in January demonstrated our government’s recognition of the damage these unfair trade practices have had on America’s domestic tin mill production and its workers.”
“Today’s announcement is a consequence of the International Trade Commission’s decision to turn a blind eye to nearly 1,000 hard-working employees right here in West Virginia in favor of illegally dumped and subsidized imports,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat. “Cleveland-Cliffs’ closure is an absolute injustice not only to American workers, but to the very principle of fair competition, and it will undoubtedly weaken our economic and national security.”
A new coal processing plant is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to Mason County.
A new coal processing plant is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to Mason County.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday that Frontieras, an Arizona-based company, will begin operating in West Virginia at the end of next year.
The plant will process 2.7 million tons of coal a year, some of which will be used for steelmaking. It is expected to employ up to 500 workers.
The company cited road and rail connections, the Ohio River, access to raw materials and a skilled workforce as deciding factors in selecting the state.
The company considered sites in Texas and Wyoming before choosing West Virginia.
In January, steelmaker Nucor reached an agreement with state officials to build a plant in Mason County. The sheet mill will employ as many as 800 workers.
Other recent major economic development news included an electric bus manufacturer in South Charleston and a solar farm in Lincoln and Boone counties.
Regional iron and steel industry leaders say they are disappointed by the Trump administration’s delay on a decision about which countries will face new import tariffs. President Trump has postponed until June a decision on which countries will be subject to new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The decision had been due May 1.
Nucor Corporation CEO and president John Ferriola was among the steel and iron industry representatives who discussed the delay in a press briefing on Tuesday. Nucor has facilities in Kentucky and Ohio. Ferriola said the delay is disappointing because it gives other countries more time to undercut domestic producers with unfairly priced goods, a practice known as dumping.
“By opening up another month what we’re doing is giving these countries another month,” he said. “These countries that have been dumping into our country get another month to get their steel into the country before the tariffs or quotas go into effect.”
Ferriola supports the president’s tariffs and said he is confident that there will be no more extensions.
Originally, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff for steel imports and 10 percent for aluminum. He then temporarily exempted the EU, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea.
South Korea has secured a permanent exemption to the tariffs, but the U.S. is limiting South Korea’s steel exports by imposing a quota.
The pending decision will determine if the other countries, which include some of the biggest U.S. trading partners on metals products, will remain exempt, face tariffs or face product quotas limiting the amount of exports to the U.S.
Ferriola said he wants action on those countries’ status.
“At the end of the day if our words are to have meaning we have to act on those,” he said. “We have to follow through on the promises we made to our industry and to our country and we’re counting on the president to do that.”
Commercial Metals Company Executive Vice President and COO Tracy Porter called the continued diminishing of the U.S. manufacturing sector “a travesty.”
“At the pace we’re going we are going to be relegated to some third world country status, probably in my children’s lifetime, if we do not stop it now,” he said. “Unfair is unfair.”
The Ohio Valley has long been a major center for iron, steel, and aluminum production. Despite sharp reductions in recent decades there are still more than 200 steel, aluminum and iron facilities in Kentucky alone.
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
However, economists warn that tariffs can create problems for domestic industries as well. Affected trading partners have threatened to retaliate against U.S. goods, and the tariffs would raise prices for U.S. businesses and consumers that use steel and aluminum.
According to a report by the Tax Foundation the estimated negative effect on Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia businesses could be more than $600,000 each year.
With sunglasses perched atop his camouflage cap, Brady Carwile filled out an application at a job fair in a community center in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Carwile works at a local auto parts maker but he’s hoping for a maintenance position at Century Aluminum’s Hawesville Smelter.
“It’s one of the best jobs you can find around there,” Carwile said
Just a few years ago Century was laying workers off, not hiring them on. Century idled 60 percent of its capacity in 2015 and laid off more than 300 workers here. Now that the Trump administration is placing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Century plans to bring the Hawesville smelter back to full capacity, invest $150 million, and create up to 300 new jobs.
Carwile was excited to hear about the new jobs but he’s a little concerned about how long those new jobs will last.
“I’m worried about the tariffs being repealed or something like that and then seeing, ‘Oh well that money’s not coming in now.’ What’s going to happen then? That’s what I’m more worried about,” he said.
With more than 220 steel and aluminum facilities in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, the Ohio Valley has a lot riding on the Trump administration’s taxes on imported metals. While the industry was cheered by Trump’s initial announcement on tariffs, actions since then have raised some uncertainty about just how big a boost domestic metals makers can expect.
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Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Trump Card
In March, when Trump first announced tariffs of 25 percent on imports of steel and 10 percent on aluminum, Century’s Hawesville workers like Dusty Stevens were in the White House to show support.
“My father worked in the industry and worked at that plant for 40 years, so this hits home for all of us at Hawesville,” Stevens said.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
The Century Aluminum smelter in Hawesville, KY.
But in the following weeks Trump gave temporary tariff exemptions to some of the largest metals suppliers, including the European Union, Mexico and Canada. This month the Trump administration delayed a decision on permanent exemptions to those countries. The White House said all countries that are exempted from the tariffs will face quotas or other restrictions, such as those recently placed on South Korea’s steel exports to the U.S.
Century Aluminum Executive Vice President Jesse Gary said Century had not planned new investment in the Hawesville smelter until the tariffs were announced. And he said strong tariffs or quotas are important for his business to rebound from the effects of what he calls unfair foreign competition.
“What we do believe is important with these exemptions is, if there are permanent exemptions put in place that they be paired with a quota,” Gary said. “So that these countries sort of can’t take advantage of the relief structure that was put in place to restart U.S. production.”
Gary said Century is making its investments based on a belief that the tariffs will be in place for the long term.
“So I think the intent of the administration is they will remain in place until the U.S. industry is back on its feet and ready to meet the country’s national security needs,” he said.
He said the administration needs to make sure that the delay does not allow countries to dump unfairly priced products in the U.S. ahead of the tariffs.
“We’d like to see it get done sooner than later but we appreciate the actions that have been taken to move everything forward,” Newport said.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Century is a major employer in Hawesville, KY, with a population of about 1,000.
Steel Standing
According to industry trade groups, steel- and aluminum-related facilities in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia still provide more than 44,000 jobs despite sharp declines over the years due to foreign competition.
Dave Martin is president of United Steelworkers Local 5668 in Ravenswood, West Virginia, where Century Aluminum used to have a smelter before it was idled in 2009.
“It was devastating,” Martin said, noting that the nearly 800 jobs lost at the smelter had a ripple effect in the small towns along the Ohio River. “Secondary jobs to the plant are affected too, so it had huge impact.”
Martin now works in fabrication at Constellium in Ravenswood. The Netherlands-based company has locations in West Virginia and Kentucky making parts for the aerospace and auto industries. Martin said Constellium imports some aluminum for fabrication. That could mean the tariffs would hurt the company by raising material prices, one of the many risks economists warn about regarding tariffs.
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
But Martin said he thinks having Century increase domestic capacity nearby could help.
“The way I see it, I think it’s a more reliable source,” he said. “You have a good usable product where it’s not always guaranteed when you go to an overseas supplier.”
Martin said a lot of jobs have been lost because of foreign competition and he hopes the tariffs will bring some of those jobs back.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Hawesville Mayor Charles King.
Hawesville Hopes
Hawesville Mayor Charles King said it was hard for his community when Century laid people off in 2015.
“It’s hard to go from, say, a $70,000 a year job to $20,000,” King said.
At the Elizabethtown job fair, Brady Carwile turned in his application for Century. In addition to better pay and benefits, a job with Century could help his personal life as well. He grew up in Breckinridge County, not far from Hawesville.
Credit Becca Schimmel / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Brady Carwile applying for a job with Century Aluminum.
“And y’know, I’d just like to get back home,” he said.
The Trump administration is expected to make a decision on which countries keep permanent tariff exemptions in June.
