EID's Shawn reports on the revitalization of the the steel and chemical industries in Ohio thanks to shale development:

"Steel and chemical companies are both eying Ohio thanks to Utica Shale development.  In recent weeks both industries have been touting the fact that due to shale development, their industries are seeing brand new opportunities.  Both industries, which have been extremely important to Ohio’s past, present, and future, have been seeing a downtrend in in the state for many years and are now poised to return to their role as former powerhouses of Ohio’s economy.

Due to shale development, Ohio’s steel industry is seeing a resurgence by making tubular steel and fittings for shale development.  In Youngstown, V&M Star has begun producing the tubular steel as has US Steel in Lorain.  Although that has been a very important story to Ohioans and one we should all be proud of, it should be noted that companies producing tubular steel aren’t the only steel companies taking advantage of shale development.

Thanks to the low cost of natural gas, companies like Nucor Steel, who have a plant in Marion, are now looking to use natural gas instead of coal to make direct-reduced iron (DRI).  Purifying iron ore has mostly been done by using coal, but due to increased air regulations the burning of coal and the low cost of natural gas, companies are now making the switch.  The use of natural gas at DRI facilities are nothing new, but the savings created by shale development has now piqued interest in the steel industry.

That technology has been around 30 years, but for 29 years gas prices in the U.S. were so high that the technology was not economical….This is how steel will be built moving forward.- Michelle Applebaum, Steel Market Intelligence (Shale-gas revolution spurs wave of new U.S. steel plants, 1/2/13)

Even though Nucor is not slated to use DRI technology at their plant in Ohio, this new development is leading to a new joint venture between Bluescope Steel Ltd. and Cargill Incorporated planning to build a new natural gas DRI plant in Ohio.

While steel plants are very important to Ohio’s history and continues to provide good paying jobs to Ohioans, the chemical industry is also a tremendously important industry to Ohio residents.  According to the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council, Ohio employs 45,865 people, and indirectly contributes 155,943 jobs to the economy."

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