Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle

Losing 1,500 jobs in the community is not something anybody would support.

Importing something we can make domestically is not something anybody would support either.

But members of the United Auto Workers union find themselves fighting against the U.S. Department of Energy to prevent a standards change that would have a “devastating impact” on steel production at the Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works and a sister plant in Ohio.

In Sunday’s Eagle, staff writer Austin Uram wrote about a petition circulating against a proposed change to efficient standards for distribution transformers.

In short, “The proposed rule will destroy the domestic supply chain for distribution transformers, will potentially shutter the Butler and Zanesville Works of Cleveland-Cliffs, costing in excess of 1,500 jobs to American union workers,” the petition reads.

Energy efficiency is important, and, in consideration of fairness, maybe there’s something to the DOE’s plan.

But according to Jamie Sychak, president of UAW Local 3303, there’s nothing to the DOE’s plan of significance to justify shutting down the only plant that domestically produces grain-oriented electrical steel.

In fact, Sychak says, this proposed rule will force the U.S. energy sector to rely on imported amorphous steel cores.

“Use of AM cores will result in reliance on imports to supply our electrical grid and leave the United States vulnerable to production and shipping issues,” the petition reads.

And, in a June 1 letter to DOE, 47 senators signed in bipartisan opposition to the proposal, stating the national transformer infrastructure was already operating at “97.7% efficiency.”

100% efficiency is better, but if that 2.3% means we maintain 1,500 jobs and don’t have to rely on imported materials, what’s the downside?

— RJ