Defense bill includes new $3.2B spending limit for Soo Lock project
WASHINGTON, DC – The defense policy bill approved Thursday by the House includes new spending authorization for the ongoing project to build a new Soo Lock at $3.2 billion, which is triple what it had been expected to cost but should allow construction to stay on track.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had requested the reauthorization this fall, citing record levels of inflation, a “robust” construction workload across the country and a national labor shortage as contributing to the cost increase, as well as modifications to the design to improve safety and operability
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Lansing Democrat who has long supported the project, said Thursday the reauthorization language is “really good news.”
“This allows the project to get done,” Stabenow told The Detroit News. “The most important thing is that there’s a full commitment from the Congress, from the Army Corps of Engineers, from the administration. So it’s not going to be stop-start, which has been of concern to me.”
Roughly $1.585 billion has already been allocated to the project, which would modernize the shipping lock complex on the St. Marys River in the Upper Peninsula connecting Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes. The government has stressed the critical role the shipping channel plays in the North American economy and the nation’s supply chain of iron ore for manufacturing.
Stabenow added that she’s working with the House and Senate appropriations panels to ensure funding for the project is included in the omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2023.
Detroit News
U.S. Steel casting pig iron in major milestone at new Gary Works facility
U.S. Steel’s new pig iron facility at Gary Works steel mill recently reached a major milestone when the $60 million pig caster produced its first batch of pig iron.
It has since cast several full ladles, totaling more than 1,000 tons of pig iron.
Scott Buckiso, a U. S. Steel senior vice president and the chief manufacturing officer of the North American Flat-Rolled Segment, said the achievements were months ahead of schedule.
“Congratulations to the entire team at Gary Works on achieving this latest milestone,” he said. “Thanks to strong leadership and tremendous collaboration across the plant and at the project site, we’re well on our way to delivering on a key aspect of our Best for All strategy and doing so safely, ahead of schedule and on budget.”
U.S. Steel continues to ramp up the pig caster at the steel mill at 1 N. Broadway in downtown Gary. It plans to begin full production sometime in the first half of next year.
The new pig caster converts iron ore, hauled by lake freighters across Lake Michigan, into pig iron to feed its new electric arc furnaces in Arkansas as well as its blast furnaces.
U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt visited the steel mill on the Lake Michigan lakefront earlier this year for the groundbreaking of the project. He said it would “create the necessary material for our lower-emissions electric arc furnaces” and “is the perfect example of combining the best of integrated and mini-mill technologies.”
It is supplied by iron ore from U.S. Steel’s mines in Minntac and Keetac in Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. It will produce up to 500,000 tons of pig iron a year, producing 50% of the metallics needed for the steelmaker’s new Big River Steel Works.
NWI Times
