Boston, MA 11/05/2013 (wallstreetpr) – The S&P 500 tracked steel and iron maker Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) has come out fighting to protect its turf in the Arkansas region. It has doubled its lobbying efforts, by roping in legislators of Arkansas to allow the mandatory environmental permits to its steel and iron manufacturer rival Big River Steel.
Big River has been pursuing an ambitious $1.1 billion project to set up a steel mill in Arkansas since January this year. In the recent past, the steel manufacturer has been facing delays due to the delay in receiving regulatory go ahead with respect to environmental protection laws. In the past, Nucor had lobbied with the state legislators reject Big River’s request to grant $125 million financing. It is interesting to note that the lawmakers had passed that particular request.
Nucor has been setting roadblocks to its competition by bringing forth specific objections with the ‘Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.’ Big River’s Arkansas steel mill project has already submitted datasets supporting its claim. The steel makers’ effort has resulted in pushing out the start date of its rival’s project by almost a year.
Commenting about the environmental approval process, Joe Holmes who is the spokesperson for Arkansas Economic Development Commission has commented that, there would be no final settlement, until the issue has been thoroughly revised. The ground-breaking too, would be postponed to first quarter, it is said.
Nucor has been justifying its opposition to the project by highlighting that the new mill proposed by Big River will come up too close to its existing steel mill in Blytheville. It is also fearful that more job creation will also increase labour costs and drive both companies to become human resources adversaries. It also believes that the excess steel capacity will end up pitting the two steel producers fighting for same customers leading to drop in prices to unsustainable levels.
