Tom McLaughlin – 12/9/09

This page was last updated on December 14, 2009.

Workers already capped and traded; Tom McLaughlin; Beaver County Times; December 9, 2009.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“They got them and they are not going to stop smoking them.

“Who are they? China and India. What are they smoking? Fossil fuels. Who provided them with some of their smoking materials? LTV and B&W.

“Once upon a time, there was a rod mill and a blooming mill that was born and raised in a town called Aliquippa in a steel mill called J&L.

“J&L was sold to a company called LTV, which was run by people who thought steelworkers made too much money with their high wages and 13 weeks vacations working in that dirty old mill. To them LTV meant ‘leaving the valley.’ It made them happy.”

[RWC] Not exactly. It’s my understanding LTV’s purchase (10 years later) of Youngstown Sheet & Tube in 1978 was done at least partially to consume J&L Aliquippa steel.

“To the steelworkers who lost their jobs because LTV went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, LTV meant ‘liars, thieves and vultures.’ It made the steelworkers sad and mad.

“The rod mill and the blooming mill now have moved to China. Parts of B&W went to India. I have seen the rod mill so round, so firm so fully packed just before it was shipped to communist China.”

[RWC] I’m not defending LTV, but blaming the Aliquippa works’ demise solely on LTV displays ignorance of the steel industry situation. What about the rest of the mills in the area? I covered the main points in a 2002 letter to the editor and in a 2005 letter critique.

I’m not that familiar with B&W, but it’s my understanding at least a portion of its problems (in addition to the generic problems for Western PA steel) can be traced to the specialty steels it made for the nuclear power industry and the collapse of nuclear power plant construction in the U.S.

“I think we should say no - no to Kyoto. Most of the steelworkers in Beaver County have already been capped and traded. They don't need to pay for other countries bad smoking habits.”

[RWC] We said no to Kyoto during the Clinton administration when the Senate voted 95-0 that the U.S. should not sign the agreement.