For thirty years US Steel has promised upgrades of one sort or another and then made excuses for not doing them. This latest round is nothing new. Once they got their construction permits they "shelved the project" in an "economy move". If previous experience is any guide at all, from here on they will simply make excuses and continue their defacto policies of asset depreciation and breakdown maintenance.

They have no intention of honoring their committments.

Yet it is interesting that even with all this claptrap about "economy moves" their is still money for executive bonuses, stock dividends, golden parachutes and sweet-heart contracts for trade unionist who, like the executives, don't even live here!

The root cause of this situation is the bitter resistance of the USW to modern technology as a "job killer" and a "conspiracy to break the union." In fact, the only "job killer" is the USWs opposition to progress, competition and free trade. This has assured the success of of foreign competitors, caused extensive environmental damage, made the steel industry pathetically dependent on government subsidy and patronage and wiped out the very jobs that they ostensibly wanted to protect.

Let's face it the only REAL conspiracy is that of the USW against the MonValley!