President Donald Trump said construction had already begun on a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa, which he called the largest in U.S. history; however, local records tell a different story.
On September 28, Trump announced the Mesabi Metallics project from the Oval Office together with officials from Iowa and company executives. The White House described it as “the largest steel plant ever built in the United States”, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that there was no doubt regarding the project.
“This deal is done,” Lutnick said. “They’ve already worked it out.”
Trump went further, adding that “They’ve already started building.”
However, an investigation by Iowa television station KWQC found no major property acquisitions connected with the project in Lee County this year. The county authorities also stated that no permits had been submitted to the supervisors and that they had not obtained detailed plans from the company.
The plant that has been proposed will create approximately 1,750 permanent jobs together with thousands of temporary construction jobs, Mesabi Metallics has stated, and production is expected to start in 2030. There are still a number of steps to go through before construction can start.
Only a few days after Trump made his announcement, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds summoned the lawmakers back for a special session with the aim of extending the tax incentives offered to Mesabi. The Legislature eventually passed legislation that provided more than $1.3 billion in public funds and tax savings over a ten-year period.
That made it difficult for Lutnick to stick to his belief that the deal was already completed.
Debi Durham, who is the director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, said that the special session would not have been necessary if Mesabi had agreed to construct the plant under Iowa’s present incentive scheme.
Some members of the Republican Party also objected to the price.
“Do I believe the Iowa taxpayer received the best deal in this proposition? Absolutely not,” Republican state Sen. Dan Dawson said.
The full application from Mesabi still has to be approved by the Iowa Economic Development Authority before the state enters into a contract, and the chairwoman of the Lee County Board of Supervisors also stated that the company had not yet committed to a project site.
Mesabi said it “looks forward to breaking ground in the near future.”
The company’s history has introduced yet another complication. CBS News reported that both Mesabi and Essar have already failed to meet their deadlines and have not fulfilled the job plans they had announced. Although Essar announced in 2008 a $1.6 billion iron mine and steel mill in Minnesota, which was intended to produce more than 700 permanent jobs, the steel mill was never constructed.
As late as July, job advertisements for the Mesabi company listed the proposed steel plant in Kentucky.
At this time, even though Trump had stated that construction had already started, the project in Iowa still does not have a final site and must obtain further approvals from the state before building can begin.