Project Tim

[GMan]

It is a possibility. This is what popped in my mind first. But Calvert does have port facilities.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.al.co..._calvert_s.amp

Steel mills with different functions. One plant is a feeder for the other.

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/201...of-Toledo.html

http://railroadfan.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35070

[Sandhouse]

While "Tim" doesn't appear at first to have anything to do with Detroit, I've always felt it's something of a tragedy that proposals like this always take place in rural territory, and never on former industrial sites in cities.

It's easy to see why. Even if one or more old factory sites were included, assembling a site this big in Detroit would require buying hundreds of residential lots, not all of them vacant. Street and utility networks would have to be obliterated and replaced. Much easier to deal with a half dozen farmers eager to do business.

Fifteen or more years ago, a mini-mill [[scrap melter) was proposed for the northeast corner of Flint. But it was simultaneous with enactment of "environmental justice" rules, and the project was thwarted by a lawsuit filed by a tiny religious order fronting for environmental activists. So that desperately-poor neighborhood was saved from emissions, and from new jobs, too. If I recall rightly, the plant was built in Monroe. It is easy to foresee something like that happening in Detroit, but not Durand.

I'd love to know how real this scheme is.

[GMan]

While "Tim" doesn't appear at first to have anything to do with Detroit, I've always felt it's something of a tragedy that proposals like this always take place in rural territory, and never on former industrial sites in cities.

It's easy to see why. Even if one or more old factory sites were included, assembling a site this big in Detroit would require buying hundreds of residential lots, not all of them vacant. Street and utility networks would have to be obliterated and replaced. Much easier to deal with a half dozen farmers eager to do business.

Fifteen or more years ago, a mini-mill [[scrap melter) was proposed for the northeast corner of Flint. But it was simultaneous with enactment of "environmental justice" rules, and the project was thwarted by a lawsuit filed by a tiny religious order fronting for environmental activists. So that desperately-poor neighborhood was saved from emissions, and from new jobs, too. If I recall rightly, the plant was built in Monroe. It is easy to foresee something like that happening in Detroit, but not Durand.

I'd love to know how real this scheme is.

Yeah I agree with you. Unfortunately greenfield development is cheaper than brownfield re-development. That and the associated PR with the neighbors who rightfully worry about pollution, safety and traffic issues makes it an easy choice to select less dense areas.

[Jimaz]

...It's easy to see why. Even if one or more old factory sites were included, assembling a site this big in Detroit would require buying hundreds of residential lots, not all of them vacant. Street and utility networks would have to be obliterated and replaced. Much easier to deal with a half dozen farmers eager to do business....

These situations always remind me of that scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

Chapter VII
A Mad Tea Party

`And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, `he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.'

A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?' she asked.

`Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'

`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.

`Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.'

`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.

`Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted, yawning....

`I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: `let's all move one place on.'

He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate.

[GMan]

A little update on Project Tim:

http://owossoindependent.com/durand-...s-project-tim/

More land needed. Classified as "Renewable energy." Owned by American Company.

[GMan]

Confirmation on what "Project Tim" is. STEEL.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index....ndicate_m.html

[1953]

Well, that's kind of disappointing. Was hoping for a spaceship factory or something.

1953

[mikefmich]

A 6 billion industrial investment in DOO-rand of all places? Wow.

[Sandhouse]

Presumably the railroad is the attraction, at the junction of the line to Detroit and with the presence of the state-owned line as a control on rates. If the reports are right about the size of this mill, it probably means the inbound raw material will move by rail and possibly the outbound product as well.

Maybe the old Amtrak conductor was right who used to announce, "DOOrand, city of GOLLLLden opportunity!" But it's still weird to think if this along I-69 and not in Trenton or Wyandotte.

I wish I could recall the name of the excellent book I read about the Nucor Steel corporation, and how it pioneered scrap-melting mini-mills, although this deal sounds bigger than the Nucor mills. Oddly, Nucor is the corporate descendent of the old Diamond-Reo truck company of Lansing.

[hybridy]

Analysts question viability of 'Project Tim' steel mill plan

Steel industry experts are skeptical that a processed steel market already saturated with excess inventory would support the financial viability of two new plants in the Midwest, especially one in a landlocked railroad town like Durand that has no nearby access to a river to ship in raw iron ore or scrap metal for steel production.

pursuing a $7 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy...The company also is seeking another $7 billion loan from a TARP-era fund Congress set up during the Great Recession to aid automakers in developing energy-saving technology for construction of a second steel mill in southern Ohio — a project New Steel International has been publicly pursuing since 2007.

Steel produced in the U.S. was selling for $682 per metric at the end of November — 28 percent higher than the $533 per metric ton going rate for steel coming out of Chinese mills, according to industry price-tracking data compiled by SteelBechmarker.com.