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US Steel Permanently Closing Alabama Plant

us steel


(Kelly Poe)  The US Steel blast furnace in a Birmingham suburb won’t just be idled – it’ll be shut down permanently on or after Nov. 17, the Pittsburgh company announced Monday.

It’s been a turbulent year for the steelmaker which has sent potential layoffs for more than 4,000 of its workers, including about 1,800in Fairfield, where the company has operated a blast furnace and flat-rolled finishing operations.

Today about 2,000 people work at the US Steel operations in Fairfield, about 1,300 of which work at Fairfield Works. About 1,100 people will lose their jobs as a result of the closure, a US Steel spokeswoman told AL.com.

The company temporarily restarted the blast furnace in June.In an earnings call last month, President and CEO Mario Longhi said it would idle it again in August. Now, the closing will be permanent.

Most of the flat-rolled finishing operations will also be closed.

“We have made some difficult decisions over the last year as part of our portfolio optimization,” Longhi said in a prepared statement. “We have determined that the permanent shut-down of the Fairfield Works blast furnace, steelmaking and most of the finishing operations is necessary to improve the overall efficiency and cost structure of our flat-rolled segment.”

In March, Jefferson County commissioners voted to approve about $14 million in tax abatements for the company to build an electric arc furnace, which will require about 300 workers.

US Steel made the decision to close the operations based on “current and long-term global operational footprint competitiveness,” according to a press release.