The U.S. Steel has announced it will bring back 200 jobs to the Granite City Works. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Steel)

United States Steel Corp. announced Dec. 12 that it will reopen the idled hot strip mill at its Granite City Works in mid-February; bringing about 200 employees back to work.  Some 2,000 were laid off at the Granite City Works a year ago.

Company officials said the hot strip mill’s operating configuration will be adjusted as part of an “asset revitalization” program. The mill will be used to process slabs from U.S. Steel’s own domestic facilities.

“U.S. Steel is making the adjustment to its hot strip mill operating configuration to provide better alignment with customer needs and improve service while increasing the pace of its asset revitalization plan,” according to a company statement. “The company plans to take periodic outages at Gary Works (Gary, Ind.), Great Lakes Works (Detroit, Mich.), and Mon Valley Works (Pittsburgh, Pa.) to improve the capabilities and reliability of the hot strip mills.”

The Granite City Works blast furnaces and steelmaking facilities were idled in December 2015 and the hot strip mill was idled in January 2016.

U.S. Steel blamed challenging global market conditions.

The blast furnaces and steelmaking facilities at the Granite City Works will remain idled, the company confirms.

The pickle line, cold mill and finishing lines at Granite City Works will continue to operate, the company said

Steelmaker settles pollution suit

U.S. Steel Corporation also this month also a proposed settlement of a 2012 pollution lawsuit brought by the federal government.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice statement that, U.S. Steel has agreed to reduce pollution at three Midwest iron and steel plants in Gary, Ind., Ecorse, Mich. and Granite City, Ill.

The settlement filed in Hammond-based U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana is subject to final approval by a judge.

Under the proposed settlement, U. S. Steel would spend nearly $2 million on seven environmental projects. That includes removing light fixtures in schools containing toxic chemicals.

The company has also committed to paying a $2.2 million civil penalty.

— Steel jobs coming back to the Metro East region —