WEIRTON, W.Va. –More bad news has come for the northern panhandle.
On Wednesday, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America, announced that plans to establish a new electrical distribution transformer production plant in Weirton would be scrapped.
The facility was a longtime steel producer before being converted into a tinplate production plant. Last February, Cleveland-Cliffs announced that the plant would idle, leaving around 900 workers without a job. Five months later, Clevland-Cliffs brought up plans to establish a new electrical distribution transformer production plant to the idled Weirton site.
The news that Cleveland-Cliffs would not move forward with the Weirton transformer facility comes after the company recorded a loss of $483 million for the first quarter of 2025. The company also announced that five other facilities would be partially or fully idled.
Congressman Riley Moore released a statement Wednesday expressing his disappointment.
“For generations, the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia has forged the steel that kept our country strong, prosperous, and free. Today’s announcement is nothing short of heartbreaking,” Moore said. “Last year I stood in front of the men and women of United Steelworkers Local 2911, laying out a vision to get the plant running again and the steel workers back on the job. Despite today’s disheartening news, Weirton remains one of the best places in America to produce steel because of our hardworking, skilled workforce with a century of experience in the industry.”
Moore continued by saying the fight isn’t over.
“I’ve had productive conversations about the future of this facility with people in the Trump Administration, neighboring members of Congress, the Congressional Steel Caucus, and our partners in the private sector. I’ll keep fighting for Weirton and to keep these good-paying union steel jobs in the Northern Panhandle,” Moore said.
Mark Glyptis, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2911, says the last year and a half has been a challenge.
“It’s been very difficult,” Glyptis said. “It’s been difficult on the employee and their families.”
Despite the bad news, Glyptis says he’s looking at the situation with a positive mindset for the future.
“We still have a great deal of faith that we’re going to be able to put together a transformer plant. There’s a huge demand for transformers,” Glyptis said. “We obviously have some roadblocks that we have to overcome, and we’ll overcome it.”
Glyptis says he’ll be in contact with lawmakers and Lorenzo Goncalves, Cleveland Cliff’s chief, in the coming weeks.
“As long as I have a breath in my body, I’m going to work as hard as I can. We’ll work with a number of different legislators, we’ll work with quite a few people, we’ll work with Lorenzo (Goncalves) as well for a positive outcome as far as the transformer plant is concerned,” Glyptis said.