steel news stories on Newser

Battered Ohio Town Finds Hope in Fracking

Mark Russell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:22:05 CDT

The Rust Belt has suffered through decades of decline and job losses, but now a $650 million steel plant, bringing 350 new jobs, is going up in Youngstown, Ohio—and you can thank fracking for the revival, reports the Wall Street Journal . The rise of hydraulic fracturing—the process of...

SF Bay Bridge Reopens

Harry Kimball — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:08:27 CST

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge reopened to commuter traffic this morning after a successful test of repairs was conducted overnight. The bridge has been out of commission since Tuesday, when the original repair failed and crushed three cars. Workers took a while to “get the geometry” of the new repair...

Navy Ship Built With World Trade Center Steel Sets Sail

Will McCahill — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:00:48 CDT

A US Navy ship built using materials from the World Trade Center has left the Louisiana yard where it was built and headed north for its official christening. The USS New York, an amphibious transport ship, features at its bow some 7½ tons of steel deemed still usable after the...

G-20 Summit Puts Spotlight on Reborn Pittsburgh

Rob Quinn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:42:11 CDT

The choice of Pittsburgh for this week's G20 summit highlight a Rust Belt success story, Kris Mamula writes in Portfolio . The smokestacks and steel mills Mamula remembers from his Pittsburgh childhood are long gone, victims of the collapse of Big Steel that left the city in a state similar to...

Chavez Takes Control of Iron, Steel Firms

Rob Quinn — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:38:31 CDT

Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of several large iron and steel companies in Venezuela, AFP reports. The president said the takeovers marked the start of a "process of nationalization to create an industrial complex." The move, which follows the nationalization of 39 oil service providers, would help build a...

US Benefits From China Stimulus

Clay Dillow — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:29:55 CDT

While Americans await the fruits of their $787 billion bailout, China is moving ahead with public-works projects at a staggering pace, pumping up its own economy as well as America’s, the Wall Street Journal reports. US industrial-equipment makers, struggling with effectively zero domestic growth, are back near record levels in...

Scientists Build a Better Web—by Adding Metal

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:42:15 CDT

Scientists have combined spider silk with metal atoms to boost web strands' already-phenomenal strength, reports Ars Technica. The breakthrough experiment advances the science of creating ever-stronger materials, as well discovering a successful method to bond metal to biological material. Experiments are already under way to make chicken eggs stronger.

Senate Dilutes 'Buy American' Plan

Rob Quinn — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:58:48 CST

The Senate has voted to water down the "Buy American" clause in the economic stimulus package amid fears it could trigger a trade war, Reuters reports. The requirement that stimulus-funded projects use American-made iron, steel and manufactured goods now includes the proviso that it only be applied in a manner...

Big Biz Slams 'Buy American' Stimulus Clause

Rob Quinn — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST

American exporters are fighting to ditch "Buy American" provisions from the economic stimulus package, the Washington Post reports. The House version bars most foreign iron and steel from stimulus projects, while a Senate version calls for only American-made equipment and goods to be used in nearly all projects to be...