McCormick and HUD secretary tour U.S. Steel's Braddock facility, hint at housing plans

Federal officials hinted Friday morning at plans to build more housing near U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works as the firm’s new owner, Nippon Steel, prepares to spend big on upgrades.

“When you create jobs, there’s a housing need,” said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner at a news conference outside the facility, which straddles Braddock and North Braddock.

Turner had just wrapped up a tour of the plant with U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a vocal supporter of U.S. Steel being sold to Japan’s largest steelmaker for $14.9 billion. They were joined afterward by U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Kurt Barshick, vice president of the Mon Valley Works.

To help clinch the deal and win approval from skeptical politicians, Nippon pledged to invest up to $14 billion on top of the sale price into U.S. Steel facilities, with $2.2 billion headed to the Mon Valley Works.

But few details have emerged about what specific upgrades are on the docket. Nippon has promised to spend at least $1 billion to replace the outdated hot strip mill at the Irvin Works in West Mifflin, but little has been announced about how the Edgar Thomson Works or the coke-making facility in Clairton might benefit.

“I know they’re going to do some upgrades in the blast furnaces with the new technology from Nippon,” said North Braddock Mayor Cletus Lee. “We got a bright future going on, for a few years at least.”

U.S. Steel and Nippon say their joining forces will protect and create more than 100,000 jobs — a staggering figure given U.S. Steel currently employs around 22,000 people, with 3,000 of them in the Mon Valley.

“The American dream is about creating great-paying jobs. … The second part of the American dream is to be able to buy a house,” said McCormick, R-Pittsburgh.

According to a news release from the McCormick camp, the tour let officials “see firsthand how the historic agreement between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel has and will impact the plant, its workers and the surrounding community.”

Nippon acquired U.S. Steel in June after more than a year and a half of debate over whether an iconic American company in a critical industry should come under foreign control.

The deal initially found few fans in Washington, D.C., but that slowly changed after then-President Joe Biden struck it down in January on national security grounds. Just a month later, President Donald Trump made some remarks that seemed deal-curious, and, by May, he gave his blessing to a “partnership” between the companies — no different from a sale, other than its political palatability.

The federal government also carved out what’s known as a golden share for itself, allowing Trump to block several kinds of major business moves, like shuttering plants or moving U.S. Steel’s headquarters from Pittsburgh.

“Back in December of ‘23, when they announced they were going to sell this facility, I was alarmed that was going to destroy the way of life for workers here in the region, and we worked together to help jam that up and demand a better, fair deal,” said Fetterman, D-Braddock. “We stood firmly on the side of protecting the American way, the steel way here in this valley.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Fetterman toured the facility. He only attended a news conference after the tour.