TRIBUNE-REVIEW reported that the economic slowdown has prompted US Steel Corp. to put off construction of a new USD 450 million coke plant at Sumpter County in Alabama.

Mr John Armstrong s spokesman of US Steel said that the timing had to be adjusted because of the economic slowdown but stressed that it has not been scrapped. He said there is no specified timetable when US Steel will start work on the project.

Construction on the initial 450,000-square-foot facility was supposed to start this year on a 360 acre site near the town of Epes. US Steel was to initially invest $150 million and create 75 jobs at the start.

When plans for the facility were announced in August, the company said it would utilize state-of-the-art technology supplied by Carbonyx, Inc. that processes coal into Cokonyx carbon alloy material. The facility would produce 250,000 tons of Cokonyx carbon alloy material per year for use in the company's U.S. Steel's Fairfield Works in Alabama.