Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Baltimore County Council voted Tuesday to allow for the construction of a cold rolling mill in Middle River in the Southeastern part of the county.
“This type of manufacturing is probably good for the country,” Fourth District Councilman Julian E. Jones Jr. said, describing the council’s action as “good news for Middle River in Baltimore counties.
“…I didn’t think we were opening any steel mills anywhere,” Jones said. “I thought we were losing everything to places like China.”
Empire Resources Inc., which is based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is taking on the project and has been searching for a location, said employee Callum Donaghey. The company purchases, sells, and distributes semi-finished aluminum and steel products in the Americas.
Bill 21-18 defined a cold rolling mill as “a metal manufacturing and processing facility where metals or metal alloys are heated and rolled to produce a metal or metal alloy product in finished coil form.” The heating facilities and furnaces produce temperatures not greater than 500 degrees Celsius. The bill is scheduled to take effect on April 16.
Donaghey estimated the capital expenditure at about $40 million and noted that the cold mill would be a 24-hour operation that is “very clean” and “environmentally friendly.” The operation should provide 150 manufacturing jobs, he said. By operating around the clock, he said traffic should spread out, “heavier during the day with the administration people and lighter in the evening.”
“Manufacturing jobs obviously are higher paying than the distributing center jobs that we will still maintain,” said Donaghey, “but bringing in new jobs in the manufacturing sector.”
Empire Resources has been operating in Baltimore County for about 20 years. Donaghey said the cold rolling mill should produce “a bunch of good things,” including “our distributing center that we are occupying today.” Donaghey said that the company will keep the distribution center in Baltimore County but the company is looking for another facility within the county. Three sites are under consideration, he said.