At the State of the County meeting last week, one county commissioner stressed how crucial the Cleveland Cliffs facility is to the county.
Leslie Osche said the commissioners have been challenging both local and state officials to push for a reverse on a possible Department of Energy policy that would mandate the use of amorphous metal cores instead of cores made of grain-oriented electrical steel for transformers.
The Cleveland Cliffs plant could close if this policy went into effect.
According to Osche, Cleveland Cliffs pays the highest payroll tax in the county. She believes the ramifications from a closing would be drastic.
“The plant helps ensure that this country is secure in its energy supply. There are policies and tariffs that could severely effect that plant. And if that plant fails then we know what happens,” Osche said. “This community would be in big trouble.”
Congressman Mike Kelly has also stressed the need to reverse the proposed policy as well.