Decrepit steel mill that once was the world’s largest getting a surprising second life: ‘A welcome and positive rebirth’

[jemhouston]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/decrepit-ste ... 00832.html

Decrepit steel mill that once was the world’s largest getting a surprising second life: ‘A welcome and positive rebirth’
Laurelle Stelle
Sun, December 10, 2023 at 6:30 PM CST·2 min read
203

Over time, changes in the market, manufacturing, and technology have closed the doors on what were once thriving industrial operations that supported whole communities.

Bethlehem Steel, near the Port of Baltimore, was one of those operations that faded with time, Electrek reports. Now, however, the site will take on new life as US Wind repurposes part of the land to manufacture turbines for generating wind power.

Bethlehem Steel was founded in 1887 and became the largest steel producer in the world in the 1950s, Electrek explains. At one point, it employed 30,000 workers, some of whom lived at the facility. However, the mill went bankrupt and closed permanently in 2012.

In 2021, US Wind, a developer that has created multiple offshore wind farms, announced that it would use 90 acres of the sprawling Bethlehem steel mill site to build its new manufacturing plant, Sparrows Point Steel. There, it will produce components for its wind farm projects — potentially serving the whole East Coast in the future.

Producing more wind power is great news for Maryland residents since this energy source is clean and affordable. Texas residents save $20 million a day through a combination of wind and solar, and other states can start to tap into these energy sources, too.

At the same time, the more we rely on non-polluting clean energy, the less we’ll rely on oil and coal — energy sources that put toxic fumes and heat-trapping gases into the air, warming up the planet. We’re already starting to make the shift to relying on cleaner options.

Meanwhile, the mill itself is good news for residents. Such a huge manufacturing facility will supply jobs and bring money to the area, boosting the economy. Plus, according to Electrek, the remainder of the former Bethlehem Steel site is now being cleaned up, which is good for the environment.

“I’m a huge fan of adaptive reuse, and I’m also so excited by the revival of U.S. manufacturing in the EV and clean energy sectors due to the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act,” said Electrek’s Michelle Lewis about the project. “Sparrows Point Steel Mill won’t be as large as its predecessor, but it will be a welcome and positive rebirth for this long-abandoned site.”

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.

[Johnnie Lyle]

Better than turning it into a Wal-Mart, like happened with the steel mill in Portsmouth, OH.

Steel mills are one of those industries that died in the US due to short-sightedness, and we are now heavily dependent upon imports, especially for essential but low end items.

[MikeKozlowski]

Better than turning it into a Wal-Mart, like happened with the steel mill in Portsmouth, OH.

Steel mills are one of those industries that died in the US due to short-sightedness, and we are now heavily dependent upon imports, especially for essential but low end items.

I worked at Arcelor-Mittal Steel in Georgetown SC for a year or so, and the short-sightedness was all on the part of the locals. They wanted to turn the plant site on Winyah Bay into hideously expensive housing for the Pawley's Island class, and they did their damnedest to kill the place. It's still open, but just barely.

Mike

[Johnnie Lyle]

Better than turning it into a Wal-Mart, like happened with the steel mill in Portsmouth, OH.

Steel mills are one of those industries that died in the US due to short-sightedness, and we are now heavily dependent upon imports, especially for essential but low end items.

I worked at Arcelor-Mittal Steel in Georgetown SC for a year or so, and the short-sightedness was all on the part of the locals. They wanted to turn the plant site on Winyah Bay into hideously expensive housing for the Pawley's Island class, and they did their damnedest to kill the place. It's still open, but just barely.

Mike

Zero surprise there. Did they pretend closing the plant and moving it to China would save the planet too?

[MikeKozlowski]

Better than turning it into a Wal-Mart, like happened with the steel mill in Portsmouth, OH.

Steel mills are one of those industries that died in the US due to short-sightedness, and we are now heavily dependent upon imports, especially for essential but low end items.

I worked at Arcelor-Mittal Steel in Georgetown SC for a year or so, and the short-sightedness was all on the part of the locals. They wanted to turn the plant site on Winyah Bay into hideously expensive housing for the Pawley's Island class, and they did their damnedest to kill the place. It's still open, but just barely.

Mike

Zero surprise there. Did they pretend closing the plant and moving it to China would save the planet too?

John,

Actually, no - they wanted A-M to close/tear down/clean up at zero cost to the city because it was polluting 'this natural wonder' and it had nothing to do with the fact that developers were buying up every last inch of buildable space between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown to build vacation homes and the property taxes alone would have far exceeded anything AM was paying.

And on the other side of the bay, there were very nice, polite and well dressed people with literal suitcases full of cash pressuring the African American families still living on land they'd been given by General Sherman to sell.

The 08 recession put a slug right through all that, thank God.

Mike

[jemhouston]

I'd like to see more plants kept and reopened for new uses. I think it's upcycling?

Denver REI Flagship store which was an old hydroelectric plant. Been there in 2004, haven't been back to Denver.





Frankly at the time (still might be) I liked it better than the Seattle Flagship store.

[Johnnie Lyle]

I'd like to see more plants kept and reopened for new uses. I think it's upcycling?

Denver REI Flagship store which was an old hydroelectric plant. Been there in 2004, haven't been back to Denver.





Frankly at the time (still might be) I liked it better than the Seattle Flagship store.

Looks like the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg that got repurposed into a massive wine tasting extravaganza. Been several times and still haven’t tried it all.

On the flipside, we desperately need more heavy industry in the US working to US environmental standards. Of course, the Progs want to go California, where the heavy industry is offshored where they don’t care about pollution and the Progs geto bask in their unending smugness at “saving the planet” while sticking it to those icky poor people who work with their hands when they should be dying of methamphetamines.

[Johnnie Lyle]

I worked at Arcelor-Mittal Steel in Georgetown SC for a year or so, and the short-sightedness was all on the part of the locals. They wanted to turn the plant site on Winyah Bay into hideously expensive housing for the Pawley's Island class, and they did their damnedest to kill the place. It's still open, but just barely.

Mike

Zero surprise there. Did they pretend closing the plant and moving it to China would save the planet too?

John,

Actually, no - they wanted A-M to close/tear down/clean up at zero cost to the city because it was polluting 'this natural wonder' and it had nothing to do with the fact that developers were buying up every last inch of buildable space between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown to build vacation homes and the property taxes alone would have far exceeded anything AM was paying.

And on the other side of the bay, there were very nice, polite and well dressed people with literal suitcases full of cash pressuring the African American families still living on land they'd been given by General Sherman to sell.

The 08 recession put a slug right through all that, thank God.

Mike

Sounds pretty typical. We need more housing built, but not that way.

[jemhouston]

Sounds pretty typical. We need more housing built, but not that way.

Not disagreeing with this or your previous comment.

[Johnnie Lyle]

Sounds pretty typical. We need more housing built, but not that way.

Not disagreeing with this or your previous comment.

Yeah. Housing is very much one of those “one rule for thee and one rule for me” situations where the problem is affluent people effectively expanding their own piles at the expense of everyone else - and then find a patsy to blame it on (Wall Street and foreign investors being popular excuses). We’re finally seeing some movement on zoning to make building easier, but not reducing the cost of building so affordable housing is economical to build and run.

You couldn’t really come up with a better way to restrict housing to the wealthy and further impoverish poor people than the NIMBYs and government regulations that make building extremely expensive.