[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 130 (Friday, September 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7439-S7440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             STEELDAY 2010

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the critical 
role of structural steel in our Nation's infrastructure and industrial 
economy.
  Today, September 24, 2010, is the second annual SteelDay and is being 
celebrated through events nationwide. These events highlight the many 
American jobs provided by the structural steel industry and the 
contributions of structural steel as a safe, strong, green, and 
effective building material.
  The structural steel industry is a major employer in Illinois. Today, 
the United States has 4 major structural steel mills, 10 hollow 
structural shape producers, and more than 2,600 steel fabricators. 
Together, they employ over 185,000 Americans, producing 4.5 million 
tons of fabricated structural steel in 2009. In Illinois, more than 100 
structural steel firms provide more than 2,000 good jobs.
  Most of the structured steel in a building can be recovered and 
recycled--as much as 98 percent. In fact, columns and beams that are 
made at U.S. steel mills include an average 93 percent of recycled 
materials. It is the most recycled material on the planet.
  There is a renewed interest in this country in domestic steel as a 
building material, and structural steel accounts for 5 percent of the 
steel consumed in the United States. Shipping steel from other 
countries creates a huge and unnecessary carbon footprint. LEED 
certification, an environmental rating

[[Page S7440]]

system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, relies heavily on 
the use of domestic steel in new construction.
  The industry continues to incorporate improvements in the technology 
used to build steel projects. These improvements are also bringing down 
construction costs and increasing safety at construction sites. In 
light of these economic, environmental, and safety factors, it is no 
surprise that there is a three-to-one preference for using structural 
steel in the construction of multistory residential and nonresidential 
buildings.
  Mr. President, I congratulate the structural steel industry on its 
second annual SteelDay. Steel manufacturing and construction is driving 
our Nation's progress into the future.

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