Cleveland-Cliffs Butler steel plant

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Cleveland-Cliffs Butler steel plant, also known as AK Steel Butler Works, is a 1000 thousand tonnes per annum (TTPA) electric arc furnace (EAF) steel plant operating in Lyndora, Pennsylvania, United States.

Location

The map below shows the location of the steel plant in Lyndora, Pennsylvania, United States.

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  • Location: 1 Armco Dr, Lyndora, PA 16045-1065, United States[1]
  • Coordinates (WGS 84): 40.845524, -79.921452 (exact)

Background

Cleveland-Cliffs Butler began operating in 1908 under the Forged Steel Wheel Company. The plant has had many owners, including (chronologically) Columbia Steel (1920-1927), Armco (1927-1999), and AK Steel (1999-2020).[2] AK Steel merged with Cleveland-Cliffs in 2020 for $1.1 billion, at which point the Butler plant transferred to Cleveland-Cliffs.[3] The facility now produces semi-finished and finished rolled steel which is used in power and distribution transformers, as well as stainless and carbon converters.[4]

The electric arc furnace at Butler began operating in 2011 as part of a $180 million upgrade to the plant.[5]

Environmental Compliance & Worker Safety

The facility underwent major renovations in the early 2000s to reduce its water and air pollution, after AK Steel entered into an agreement with the EPA in 2001 to convert its facilities. AK Steel spent around $26 million on retrofits.[6]

In 2004, AK Steel agreed to a $1.2 million settlement with the EPA comprising of a $300,000 penalty and $900,000 in additional spending to reduce smog-producing ozone at their facilities, which included the Butler facility.[7]

In 2011, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined AK Steel $206,000 for worker safety violations at the Butler facility.[8]

In March 2022 a fire broke out at a finishing line at the plant. There were no injuries reported.[9] 2 months later in May 2022, 7 workers were exposed to hyrdoflouric acid while working at the plant.[10]



Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Plant status Start date Workforce size
operating[1] 1908[11] 1130[1]

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Parent company Parent company PermID Owner Owner company PermID
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc [100%][12] 4295903753 [100%] Cleveland-Cliffs Inc[1] 4295903753

Table 3: Process and Products

Steel product category Steel products Steel sector end users ISO 14001 Main production equipment Detailed production equipment
semi-finished; finished rolled[1] flat-rolled electrical steels, stainless steels, stainless and carbon semi-finished

slabs[1]

energy[1] 2021[13] electric arc furnace (EAF)[1] 1 EAF (230-tonne, began in 2010); 1 AOD (175-tonne)[14][1]

Table 4: Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum):

Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
1000 TTPA[1] 1000 TTPA

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 https://web.archive.org/web/20211129150200/https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/operations/steelmaking/butler-works. Archived from the original on 2021-11-29. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "ARMCO Steel History". Butler History. 2017. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Cleveland-Cliffs Completes Acquisition of AK Steel". Industry Week. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Butler Works Fact Sheet" (PDF). Cleveland Cliffs. 2020. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. "AK Steel's Butler Works Melts First Heat In New Electric Arc Furnace". www.prnewswire.com. 2011-03-07. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "AK Steel to proceed with conversion of two more Butler Works pickle lines". WaterWorld. 2001-04-26. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "AK Steel Settles Lawsuit Over Environmental Violations at Butler Mill - Steelmaker to Pay $300,000 Penalty and $900,000 in Pollution Reduction Projects to Settle Hazardous Waste, Air and Water Pollution Violations". archive.epa.gov. 2004-12-02. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. "(AMM) AK fined $206,000 by OSHA for alleged Butler violations | Metal Bulletin.com". www.metalbulletin.com. 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2021-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Grubbs, Paula (2022-03-17). "Cliffs plant operating after fire". Butler Eagle. Retrieved 2022-09-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. Miller, Molly (2022-05-26). "7 exposed to gas at Cleveland-Cliffs". Butler Eagle. Retrieved 2022-09-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20220114125746/https://butlerhistory.com/murals/armco-steel/. Archived from the original on 2022-01-14. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20211129150204/https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/investors. Archived from the original on 2021-11-29. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220513190137/https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/clevelandcliffs/files/ISO+Certificates+for+Certified+Locations/Butler+Works-14001+Cert-issued+2021.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-05-13. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. "2022 AIST Electric Arc Furnace Roundup". Association for Iron & Steel Technology. January 2022. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

External resources

External articles

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.