The former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel coke plant in Follansbee, currently known as Mountain State Carbon, is shutting down. Cleveland-Cliffs announced that it will be ceasing production and permanently closing our Mountain State Carbon coke plant in West Virginia in the second quarter of 2022. Cleveland-Cliffs has implemented an environmental and operational strategy to reduce the usage of coke in our blast furnaces in order to reduce our CO2 emissions. Cleveland-Cliffs continues to reduce the usage of coke by increasing the use of hot-briquetted iron production and increased use of scrap in our steelmaking. This has dramatically lowered our needs for coke and coal.Cleveland-Cliffs said “Fortunately, we anticipate that all impacted employees will have job opportunities at our other nearby facilities. This will ensure that interested employees will have other employment opportunities within Cleveland-Cliffs. Mountain State Carbon employs approximately 288 employees. We anticipate retaining a staff of employees, 12 hourly and 3 salaried, for asset management and environmental compliance during this permanent closure.”
The former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel coke plant in Follansbee, currently known as Mountain State Carbon, is shutting down. Cleveland-Cliffs announced that it will be ceasing production and permanently closing our Mountain State Carbon coke plant in West Virginia in the second quarter of 2022. Cleveland-Cliffs has implemented an environmental and operational strategy to reduce the usage of coke in our blast furnaces in order to reduce our CO2 emissions. Cleveland-Cliffs continues to reduce the usage of coke by increasing the use of hot-briquetted iron production and increased use of scrap in our steelmaking. This has dramatically lowered our needs for coke and coal.Cleveland-Cliffs said “Fortunately, we anticipate that all impacted employees will have job opportunities at our other nearby facilities. This will ensure that interested employees will have other employment opportunities within Cleveland-Cliffs. Mountain State Carbon employs approximately 288 employees. We anticipate retaining a staff of employees, 12 hourly and 3 salaried, for asset management and environmental compliance during this permanent closure.”
