Keystone and Buckeye States take center stage at OCTG hearing

Dec 06, 2009 | 07:00 PM |

If you attended the International Trade Commission's public hearing Nov. 30 on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from China, you could perhaps be forgiven if you assumed the case had been initiated by the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Sure, Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln made an appearance. So did West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan and Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.)

But that pales in comparison to Pennsylvania and Ohio, which each had one senator in attendance as well as the governor of each state. Also on hand were four congressional reps from Pennsylvania and three from Ohio. And if Ohio was one rep short of Pennsylvania, it more than made up for it with a strong showing from Youngstown, Ohio, Mayor Jay Williams.

Of course it wasn't just pols from the Keystone and Buckeye states. A phalanx of domestic steel execs descended on the International Trade Commission (ITC) to plead their case for duties against Chinese imports of OCTG.

U.S. Steel alone had five top execs in tow, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Surma, according to a tentative calendar on the hearing. V&M had three members of its top brass in the audience, including V&M Star President Roger Lindgren. And Tenaris SA came with three of its big dogs, including German Cura, the company's managing director for North America.

Not to be left out, Evraz had two execs on board and TMK Ipsco, Wheatland Tube and Northwest Pipe, one each. United Steelworkers union President Leo Gerard was also on hand for the fun.....