COMMENT: Jury still out on steel vs. aluminum environmental fight

Jun 30, 2011 | 07:00 PM | John Ambrosia

Of all the contemporary rivalries involving the environment—paper vs. plastic, oil vs. coal, wind vs. solar—steel vs. aluminum might end up among the most important. It certainly is emerging as one of the most hard fought in the court of public and industry opinion. Not to mention that it consistently draws response when we address the topic, as in the story on page 30.

We obviously aren’t going to wade into the argument over which side is correct, or even more correct, for the simple reason that not enough evidence is in and all of the goals remain unclear.

After laying out aluminum’s case in the February magazine, this month we put the spotlight on steel. Why do we keep addressing such a contentious and amorphous issue? Because for the overall future of the metals industry, the U.S. economy and the global environment, it’s good news that this battle is taking place.....