Energy secretary delivers remarks from inside Butler Works
BUTLER TWP — U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited Cleveland-Cliffs’ Butler Works plant Monday, April 22, where she said the plant would receive a $75 million grant from the department to further increase the plant’s energy efficiency.
Granholm’s visit follows the department’s final ruling April 4 on energy standards, which gives Cleveland-Cliffs until 2029 to increase the efficiency of its grain-oriented electrical steel to standards currently attainable only by amorphous steel. Granholm took a tour of the plant, alongside other Butler County and state officials, before taking the stage to speak to workers of the plant and the community at large.
Cleveland-Cliffs is the only domestic producer of grain-oriented electrical steel, which is used in distribution transformers, and Granholm said the department changed its efficiency standards after hearing the new mandate would shutter Butler Works. She also said at the conference the move will keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. for generations.
“This isn’t about next month, it’s not about next year, it’s about the next generation of America technology, American manufacturing and American workers,” she said. “Around the world, demand is increasing for clean products (that) produce less pollution, built to last; and we want those stamped ‘Made in America.’”
