Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of United States Steel has been a source of unease in Pittsburgh, where the metal once dominated the economy and still looms large in the collective psyche.

Critics such as the United Steelworkers (USW) see the transaction as the latest threat to come along in a years-long struggle to keep the industry alive after plant closures in 1970s and 1980s battered the American rustbelt.

“There’s just so much history here and a lot of pride that comes with that,” said the USW’s Bernie Hall, a 4th generation metals worker. “It wouldn’t be western Pennsylvania without steel.”

In December, US Steel sealed a $14.9 billion deal to sell itself to Japan’s Nippon Steel, which has promised investments to keep Pennsylvania factories competitive with foreign producers and newer “mini mills” in the American South that are less taxing on the environment.

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But Hall, head of the Pennsylvania chapter for the USW, said the Japanese company had been evasive about specific plans for Pittsburgh-region plants in an area called the Mon Valley, the earliest of which dates to 1875.

Both President Joe Biden and challenger Donald Trump have vowed to annul the deal as the two compete for blue-collar votes, putting the transaction into limbo, probably until after the November election at least.

At stake are the Pittsburgh region’s last remaining steel factories, located just outside the city.

City transformed

For most Americans, Pittsburgh remains virtually synonymous with steel, partly owing to the prominence of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team.

But the complexion of a metropolis once known as the Smoky City changed fundamentally after the last plants shuttered in the 1980s.

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Steel “is still part of our identity, but we’re disconnected from that identity,” said former steelworker Edward Stankowski Jr., whose memoir “Memory of Steel” details his exit from the industry with thousands of others in the early 1980s.

Stankowski, whose childhood Pittsburgh home looked out onto steel plants, started in the industry out of high school in the 1970s when many young men viewed the job as a ticket to the middle class, trading hard labor in a hazardous setting for good wages and a solid retirement.

The land where Stankowski’s factory once stood in Pittsburgh’s South Side has been repurposed and now includes apartments named “Hot Metal Flats” and a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.

“I do not miss it,” said Stankowski, who went to university after leaving steel and is now a professor at La Roche University. “I like having clean air. I like having clean water.”

Steel was well suited to western Pennsylvania, a region with waterways and an abundant supply of coal, but “there’s been a fundamental, almost tectonic shift in the geography of steel,” said regional economist Chris Briem of the University of Pittsburgh.

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The Mon Valley plants “have been around a long time,” Briem said. “If they don’t get a lot of new reinvestment, they probably won’t be competitive much longer.”

Locals see symbolism in the renaming of US Steel tower downtown as the UPMC building after the region’s biggest employer, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Long-term commitment?

Once owned by Andrew Carnegie, the Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock is one of three western Pennsylvania factories that US Steel manages together with a fourth plant in eastern Pennsylvania in an operation known as “Mon Valley Works.”

Nippon has promised to keep the plants open and invest $1.4 billion in USW-represented facilities through 2026 when the current labor contract expires. The company has also vowed to keep US Steel’s 1,000-worker office in downtown Pittsburgh.

“You cannot tell the story of US Steel without Pennsylvania playing a leading role, and Nippon Steel will keep it that way,” Nippon vice chairman Takahiro Mori wrote in a June 9 op ed in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

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Nippon has hinted that odds for US approval could improve after November. Backers of the transaction argue that US Steel could be broken up if the deal dies, adding more uncertainty to US Steel’s 3,000 hourly workers in Pennsylvania.

But the USW says Nippon’s plans are vague and give the company an out in a downturn.

“They’re saying they’re going to invest in the plants,” Hall said. “What does that mean?”

Workers want a sign that whoever runs Mon Valley “is interested in running these mills for the long-term and really investing in this community,” Hall said. “That’s exactly what they’re not hearing from either Nippon or US Steel.”

Some Mon Valley workers interviewed by AFP slammed the deal as a money grab by US Steel management, expressing fear about their jobs. But others are open to it.

Alex Barna, a machinist at the West Mifflin plan, described himself as “on the fence” as he weighs his hopes and worries, saying of Nippon, “they might be in it for the long haul.”

Source: AFP

The NWS at State College issued the warning to last until 7 p.m. 

“A severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over Walnut Bottom, moving east at 25 mph,” the NWS stated in a release. 

The impact possible is flying debris, mobile homes could be damaged or destroyed, and there could be damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles.

The radar shows the storm to be in the following areas:

• Pine Grove Furnace around 630 PM EDT.
• Mount Holly Springs around 640 PM EDT.
• This includes Interstate 81 from mile markers 31 to 43.

The NWS stated to take the following precautionary measures or preparedness actions:

TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowestfloor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in amobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelterand protect yourself from flying debris.

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Preservationists and developers are keeping their fingers crossed for new state funding to revitalize historic buildings.

Two bills introduced last month would significantly raise the annual cap for the state’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit program, a public subsidy developers often use to finance the transformation of vacant historic properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

At $5 million, advocates say Pennsylvania’s program is unable to meet the demand for these credits, discouraging developers and putting irreplaceable properties at risk.

“We are woefully behind our neighboring states,” said Mindy Crawford, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania, a statewide group.

Pennsylvania has one of the smallest annual caps in the country. Of the 39 states that have historic tax credit programs, only three offer less funding each year.

A bipartisan measure introduced in the Senate would change that by setting the program’s annual cap at $50 million. The amount would put Pennsylvania on equal footing with New Jersey and above Maryland and Delaware, which offer $20 million and $8 million, respectively.

Ohio has a $120 million allocation. New York’s program does not have a cap.

“One of the reasons we love Pennsylvania is we love our historic fabric. And we hate to lose it. And we hate to lose it for lack of support. And I think that’s pretty widely felt,” said state Sen. Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia), the bill’s prime sponsor.

A companion bill moving through the House would raise the annual cap to $20 million. The legislation was recently voted out of committee, moving it one step closer to passage.

Neither measure faces much opposition.

Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, isn’t surprised about the bipartisan support. He said the state’s tax credit program is an economic engine, creating jobs and tax revenue as properties return to productive use.

He calls the program a “win-win” for “everyone who cares about the health and vitality of our cities and towns across the commonwealth.”

“If you take a vacant building that’s contributing little to nothing to the tax rolls and you fill it with residents or with offices or with businesses, retail or restaurants, the impact on those communities is immediate and can be transformative in terms of revitalizing small towns and big cities across the state,” Steinke said.

Advocates say the program also poses little financial risk to the state.

Under the program, developers who are awarded these tax credits do not receive the subsidy until the project is completed. The funding can still be used to leverage other financing, including the construction loans many developers rely on to complete these projects.

“And if the project doesn’t happen, the tax credit won’t go out,” said Crawford.

Developer David Waxman has applied for and received historic preservation tax credits for three projects in Philadelphia, including the $42 million revamp of a historic brewery.

The hulking brick building in Brewerytown dates back to 1870. It was used to make beer until Prohibition, and later became warehouse space before returning to its sudsy roots for a time.

The building remained vacant for nearly two decades when MMPartners acquired it in 2019.

“It was blighted, and another year or two of sitting it probably would have been beyond repair and torn down. And so then you would have had this gem that spoke to the history of the neighborhood gone and replaced with what we like to call spaceship buildings — these new build mid-rises with 10 materials on the facade and kind of built like crap,” Waxman said.

MMPartners transformed the dilapidated building into Poth Brewery Lofts, a mixed-use development with more than 100 apartments and 25,000 square feet of commercial space.

While the value of the tax credits — $200,000 — was small compared to the project’s bottom line, Waxman said the subsidy was an important part of the capital stack his company presented to lenders.

Like Crawford and Steinke, he hopes more funding will be available in the future so more of the state’s historic buildings can be saved and renovated — no matter who is doing the saving.

“It’s very challenging in this market to get these projects financed, so any kind of subsidy that you can layer on is extraordinarily helpful,” said Waxman.

Lawmakers must pass a budget by the end of the month.

If this year’s budget doesn’t include additional funding for the tax credit program, advocates say they’re prepared to push for it again.

Read more from our partners, WHYY.