Steel On the Lakeshore

The first stop in our series on the Ports of Indiana was Burns Harbor, an international maritime facility in the heart of steel country. Four hours down Interstate 65, the Port of Jeffersonville is less a port and more a manufacturing hub that happens to be on the Ohio River.

For the next part of our series, Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Annie Ropeik reports Jeffersonville is pushing ahead with expansions to cement its place in the Midwest industrial corridor.

Indiana’s ports move millions of tons each year of the stuff that’s made and used at Midwest factories, including steel, grains and coal. The three ports – one on Lake Michigan and two on the Ohio River – connect Indiana to the national and global economies, and each has to find its own ways to keep up with change.

For the first part of a three-part series, we visited the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor to see how it’s secured its place in the steel industry.

The Environmental Protection Agency is responding to a chemical spill, which threatens beaches and the nearest public water intake, from the U.S. Steel facility in Portage.

US Steel reported Tuesday the wastewater spill into Burns Waterway, about 100 yards away from Lake Michigan. In a statement released late Wednesday, U.S. Steel says the spill resulted from an equipment failure and it has idled all production processes at the facility.

A Minnesota steel company is spending almost $9 million dollars to grow its operations at the Port of Indiana in Burns Harbor, as state officials say they’ll prioritize Indiana ports and infrastructure investment in 2017.

Ratner Steel Supply plans to double the size of its four-year-old operations in Portage, just east of Gary.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation says Ratner will add a few dozen jobs and expand its ability to ship steel across the Region.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Baron Hill has won the endorsement of the United Steel Workers Local 1066.

At a rally Monday announcing the endorsement, Mike Millsap, District Director of the United Steelworkers said the local is supporting Hill because of his positions on issues.

Hill says strong labor unions is what built the middle class in this country and they must be protected.

Governor Mike Pence is backing U.S. Steel in calls for an investigation into China’s steel industry.

That’s after the federal government imposed new tariffs on China last week — a move some steelworkers say doesn’t go far enough.

Last month, U.S. Steel asked the U.S. International Trade Commission for a total ban on Chinese steel imports, saying practices overseas have cost thousands of American jobs.

China outpaces the U.S. 10 to 1 in steel production, using government subsidies to stay afloat even while losing money exporting the excess.

U.S. President candidate Hillary Clinton is touring Indiana ahead of the May 3rd primary and made a stop in Northwest Indiana.

She visited Munster Steel in Hammond on Tuesday afternoon (4/26) where she discussed her support for the steel industry and protecting the middle class.

Clinton aims to reward companies for investing in America and collect from the ones who reap the benefits of tax breaks and then leave.

Much of the news about the Northwest Indiana steel industry focuses these days on improving output and reduced overseas steel “dumping,” thanks to recent tariff increases and other action taken on Capitol Hill.  Times of Northwest Indiana business reporter Joseph Pete talked about these topics, and the Region’s steel industry in general, recently on “Regionally Speaking.”  Pete started with the news of an increase in steel output.

Tyrone Ridgell has made Inland steel his home for over 30 years.  It was not easy to get a job and keep a job as a black man at inland steel but he made it. After retiring  he looks back and says over all been,it was a great experience working at the steel mill. It allowed him to provide a great standard of living for him and his family.

As part of our examination of the steel industry we have been talking to African Americans some of whom have worked in the steel mills of northwest Indiana for almost 40 years. They tell stories of struggle against tremendous odds about becoming part of the middle class and all that means, most specifically being able to give their families a better life which is after all very Americans story.

Over the next few weeks we will be taking a closer look at the steel industry.

Over a week long series of conversations — Lakeshore Public Radio’s Steven Lattimore talked with a group of African-American steel workers to tell us what it is like working in the mills . Some have as much as 40 years in the mills — some who have worked in the mill for  eight years.