California congressman introduces Steel Modernization Act during stop in Franklin
By Dave Sutor
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna stood Friday morning inside the vast emptiness of a once-bustling mill in Franklin Borough, promoting his vision of what a state-of-the-art, green, union-supported steel industry could look like in the United States.
Joined by national manufacturing and environmental leaders, the Democrat from California’s Silicon Valley announced his Steel Modernization Act at a press conference inside what is now part of Green Diamond Services Industrial Complex.
His expansive proposal calls for building new facilities with near-zero carbon emissions, strengthening supply chain resilience, upholding labor standards, prioritizing projects with domestic content, updating mills and giving priority to legacy communities.
The goal is to revitalize a national steel industry that has been withering and, in many cases, outright dying for decades in places such as Franklin and Johnstown.
“We are going to build the modern steel plants here in the United States,” Khanna said. “We’re going to start with places like Franklin and Johnstown, places where we know there’s a work ethic, a hard work ethic. … There’s a work ethic here. There are values here. We know we can do it because these are the places that built the industry that helped us defeat Nazism in World War II and helped us industrialize. We’re going to put those factories here.”
Khanna acknowledged that politicians have made promises and introduced plans for decades about bringing back the nation’s steel industry.
“I don’t want to be one of those politicians or people who come up here, promise something, and then people say, ‘Well, what happened? Where’s the actual new steel plant?’ ” Khanna said. “Too many people have told too many lies for too long and gotten people’s hopes up. So here’s my commitment: (while) I’m in Congress, this is going to be the issue that I fight for until this thing becomes a law.”
State Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, was the only local official involved in the event. Representatives from the United Steelworkers, Cleveland-Cliffs, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the BlueGreen Alliance, the Alliance For American Manufacturing, the Sierra Club and the Rocky Mountain Institute were included, along with former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.
“This legislation has the potential to revitalize entire communities that have been struggling to get a foothold for decades,” Burns said. “With this legislation, we can correct the failed policies and the bad trade deals that have plagued areas like Johnstown for decades and bring our country’s manufacturing base back home.
“We can rebuild America with American-made steel with American workers. And we can rebuild Johnstown, the city that once built America.”
The bill addresses manufacturing steel in a green way.
“We still have a long way to go to get to near-zero emissions,” said Kevin Dempsey, AISI president and CEO. “It’s going to take a huge effort by industry and by government. And that’s why we’re so proud to support the bill that Congressman Khanna is introducing that really will build that public-private partnership to provide the type of tax incentives to encourage continued and increased investment in the breakthrough technologies, the cutting-edge technologies of the future.”
Khanna emphasized that his proposal is not about recreating the manufacturing style of the 1950s and 1960s.
“These are going to be modern plants,” he said. “It’s combining the future with the heritage of our past for a way forward for America (with) new industries, but the same types of jobs that people’s parents and grandparents did, just in a modern form. They’re going to be cleaner. They’re going to be safer. And they’re going to be good-paying.”
United Steelworkers International President David McCall also spoke about the potential job-creation and environmental aspects of the bill, concluding: “It’s time for our government to consider the future sustainability and viability of our national treasure – the steel industry.”