Harris Woos US Steel But Pushes Policies That Hurt Steel Industry

Vice President Kamala Harris has championed radical environmental policies supported by activist groups that, in part, led to U.S. Steel’s disinvestment in a crucial Pennsylvania project. Now, a Japanese firm might revive the project — but Harris has come out opposing the foreign takeover in a bid to appeal to working-class voters. It’s a cynical ploy, however, considering her own agenda panders to the same activists who are partly to blame for the situation.

In 2019, U.S. Steel committed to investing over $1 billion in the Mon Valley Works project but withdrew two years later amid, in part, pressure from climate activists, according to CBS News.

The original project was expected to improve “jobs” and “air quality,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said, according to the report.

“This community got blindsided because this is a good project,” Fitzgerald said when U.S. Steel announced it would not be investing in the project.

U.S. Steel agreed to sell itself to Nippon Steel in 2023, and Nippon pledged to re-invest in the Mon Valley Works project. U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told CNN, “The bottom line is these are investments in the future of American steelmaking and the employees, families, and communities that rely on it.”

Harris, however, has come out in favor of keeping U.S. Steel American-owned, saying Monday that “US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies.” The United Steelworkers union said Harris “once again made it clear that she will always stand up for steelworkers,” according to NBC News.

But it’s Harris’ radical environmentalist policy agenda that emboldened the same climate change activists partly behind the disinvestment in the Mon Valley Works project that would have improved jobs for these very steelworkers.

In 2021, then Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, according to CBS News, blamed the lack of support from “elected officials in the region” and “constant blowback from environmentalists” for the divestment.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward also called out “radical environmental groups like PennFuture, GASP, and Breathe Project, funded in part by elitist Pittsburgh foundations, [for] bully[ing] [politicians] into abandoning blue-collar workers, the PA Building trades, and the very heart of what built America — PITTSBURGH STEEL,” according to Delaware Valley Journal.

One of the groups pressuring U.S. Steel included Clear Water Action. The organization released a report in 2019 alleging U.S. Steel was contributing directly to air pollution in the Mon Valley region. Clear Water Action has since endorsed Harris.

Another group involved in the pressure blitz against U.S. Steel is Group Against Smog & Pollution (GASP), which had previously stated it has spent “over 50 years” “fighting U.S. Steel over its ongoing emissions issues” and that it was “OK” being blamed for U.S. Steel’s withdrawal.

GASP is currently “working with several community partners on the EPA-funded Ambient Air Monitoring and Air Sampling Project.” GASP also applauded the Biden-Harris administration for “the federal infrastructure and jobs bills” as well as the Inflation Reduction Act for its climate change focus. In addition, the EPA employees union almost immediately endorsed Harris.

The $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act was signed by President Biden in 2022. Approximately $370 billion was allocated to combat climate change. Biden later admitted the legislation “has nothing to do with inflation; it has to do with … the single-largest investment in climate change anywhere in the world.” Harris emphatically supported the Inflation Reduction Act, casting the tie-breaking vote.

Harris was also a staunch proponent of the Green New Deal while senator and has called for prosecuting fossil fuel companies. Harris also said during the 2019 Democrat primary that “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” when asked if she would commit to a federal ban.

“So yes,” she continued.

Harris now claims, however, that she would “not ban fracking” — a stance that’s politically expedient in states like Pennsylvania.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2