Youngstown Daily Legal News

Manufacturing group endorses bill to create steel pipe monitoring program

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 31, 2012

The Alliance for American Manufacturing has been added to the list of organizations backing the merits of House Bill 559.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by Reps. Al Landis, R-Dover, and Christina Hagan, R-Alliance, would require operators and pipeline companies to disclose the origin country of tubular steel products used for natural gas development.

“After being alerted to this issue by the Ohio Steel Council, Ohio Manufacturers Association, United Steelworkers, members of the building and construction trades and other key supporters, we were prompted to share our perspectives and to express our strong support for the passage of this bill,” said Scott Boos, AAM deputy director.

“Manufacturing is the backbone of our economy, spurring job creation and innovation and represents the single largest sector of Ohio’s economy.”

Boos said manufacturing directly employs 11.9 million Americans and directly supports millions of additional jobs in other sectors.

“Unfortunately, the last decade has not been a good one for domestic manufacturers and their workers. Despite recent gains in manufacturing employment, it should not be overlooked that roughly five million American manufacturing jobs have been eliminated in the last 10 years,” he said.

“Put in a different context, over 54,000 manufacturing facilities closed over that same span. This sharp, downward trend holds true here in Ohio, where manufacturing employment dropped from roughly 900,000 workers to its current 654,000 over the past decade.”

Boos said the dwindling numbers have brought increased attention to manufacturing policy.

“In his State of the Union address, the president mentioned the word ‘manufacturing’ nearly 20 times. Meanwhile ... Gov. Romney has already taken an aggressive stance on China, saying that he will focus on greater enforcement of our trade laws and will name China a currency manipulator on Day One, if elected,” he said.

However, Boos said, the nation’s capital remains gridlocked and states are increasingly enacting public policies to complement private sector efforts by business and labor to maintain a globally competitive industry.

HB 559 would authorize the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to create a disclosure form and require its use for declaring the origin country of steel products. The commission would be tasked with consulting with representatives from the natural gas, oil and steel industries when developing the form.

“The acceleration of natural gas development on the Marcellus and Utica Shales presents an extraordinary opportunity to revitalize manufacturing in Ohio — particularly in the steel industry,” Boos said.

“In our view, HB 559 strikes an efficient balance to promote worthy outcomes while avoiding onerous regulatory mandates.”

For instance, he said, the proposed reporting requirement presents no financial impact on the natural gas firms or pipeline operators.

“The program is forward looking, not retroactive,” Boos said. “The natural gas industry would play a role in the development of the program and, to be absolutely clear, the bill does not tell natural gas firms or pipeline operators in Ohio where to buy their pipe.”

Boos said requiring the disclosure of the country of production and manufacture of steel products would help determine whether quality and integrity testing was conducted.

“The reality is that few, if any other, countries can match the safety and quality measures that are taken here in the United States to ensure that Ohio’s natural gas exploration and distribution systems are safe and of the highest quality,” he said. “To that end, the proposed legislation is consistent with the responsibility of the legislature and (PUCO) for ensuring pipeline safety in Ohio.”

Boos said AAM has conducted national and state public policy polling and found that Ohioans want American-made steel products to be used whenever possible.

“Taking this common sense step would help to ensure that steel pipe products utilized in Ohio are of the highest quality, meeting required testing and quality standards, thus ensuring safety and reliability for Ohio’s residents and natural gas consumers,” he said.

“The bill would also do much to encourage and reward capital investments in the state economy, provide transparency so that citizens can remain educated as to the full-scope of benefits of shale gas development and so that they can monitor potential import surges from trading partners intending to harm domestic firms.”

HB 559 is before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee.

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