As the federal government on Monday announced its requirement that projects receiving a portion of the $1.2 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure package must use only steel, iron and other material produced in the United States, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller said the county has made that practice a priority with sewer projects for years.
“We didn’t need anyone to point out to us how important this is for America,” Miller said Monday. “We’re ahead of this federal approach. Starting with the repair of the Fraser sinkhole in 2017, in the nearly 5 ½ years I’ve been in this office we have bought only U.S. steel for our projects – and we have used a lot.”
“Although we were doing this in 2017 because of the obvious importance of buying U.S. steel versus Chinese steel or cheaper products, the pandemic is teaching us a painful lesson that outsourcing basic necessities and eliminating American jobs and industries is a serious mistake. I’m glad the federal government is moving to rectify this with the new infrastructure bill,” Miller said.
The guidance issued Monday by the White House requires that steel, iron and other materials purchased for construction of highways, bridges, water and waste water projects and broadband internet as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act must be made in the U.S. The rules also create a process in which a waiver of the requirement could be issued if the material is too costly or if there are not enough domestic companies to manufacture it.
According to the Associated Press, the administration could not say what percentage of construction material for existing infrastructure projects is U.S.-made, even though the federal government is already spending $350 billion on construction this year.
“In Macomb County, where we have two major waste water infrastructure projects continuing along 15 Mile Road plus projects on the near horizon that will reduce combined sewer overflows into Lake St. Clair and reduce the risk of basement flooding, we can say that 100% of the steel is American-made,” Miller said. “’Made in the USA’ -- that’s an important fundamental practice with construction that we won’t change.”
The two largest sewer infrastructure projects where construction is overseen by the Macomb County Public Works Office involve the Macomb Interceptor Drain, which carries the raw sewage of almost 600,000 people in Macomb County. The first, known as Segment 5, started in December 2020 with the excavation of what is now a 70-foot-deep shaft along 15 Mile, west of Schoenherr Road in Sterling Heights for the lining of the massive interceptor sewer and the construction of a permanent pump station. Thus far, 270 tons of steel made in the U.S. have been used there, with another 100 tons still to come.
The other site, known as Segment 6, began with the start of excavation last fall and features a 40-foot-deep shaft for lining of the interceptor beneath 15 Mile, east of Garfield Road along the Clinton Township-Fraser border. Fifteen tons of domestic steel has been used there, with 50 more tons to go.
Meantime, the Chapaton Pump Station in-system storage project that will serve most of St. Clair Shores and all of Eastpointe will use an estimated 307 tons of steel.
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