Steel Companies

New leadership. That's what the stock market is seeking in this convoluted, volatile year.It just may come from the strangest places.Environmental services and big steel, two stock groups that have been heartbreakers to faithful investors in the past, may be ready to help provide the necessary boost.Their reasonable stock prices and improving business prospects are gaining attention:* Environmental services firms, their earnings pummeled by the weak environmental cleanup policies of the Bush and Clinton administrations, should benefit from the economic revival.

A liquidation firm won the bidding for Sparrows Point, offering $72 million for the Baltimore County steel mill - less than a tenth of what the complex sold for just four years earlier - and realizing the worst fears of its roughly 2,000 employees. Mill advocates vowed to push for a miracle to keep steelmaking going there. The local United Steelworkers union had hoped for a steelmaker would buy and restart the mill - idled after owner RG Steel filed for bankruptcy in May. But no steelmaking companies showed up to bid at the Tuesday afternoon auction in New York, said Joe Rosel, president of Local 9477 in Locust Point.

Curtis H. Barnette was trained in rescues at age 12, when he became a lifeguard in the small town of St. Albans, W.Va.Today, Mr. Barnette, 57, faces another lifesaving challenge at Bethlehem Steel Corp., the big steelmaker that has been thrashing in a sea of red ink for seven of the last 10 years.Mr. Barnette, who goes by the name Hank, was named this month to succeed Walter F. Williams as Bethlehem Steel's chairman and chief executive officer.On Nov. 1, the day after Mr. Williams leaves, Mr. Barnette will take control of a company that has been battling foreign imports and a dismal economy.

WASHINGTON -- Big U.S. steelmakers, with Bethlehem Steel Corp. taking the point position, alleged yesterday that steel producers in Japan, Russia and Brazil have been illegally "dumping" commodity steel on the U.S. market and called on the government to clap quotas or punitive tariffs on the low-priced imports.The dumped steel has resulted in cutbacks in shifts and overtime at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point plant, and could result in lost jobs if the flood continues, company management and union local officials said yesterday.

In a critical move to help continue daily operations, Bethlehem Steel Corp. said yesterday that it closed a deal for $450 million in financing just two days after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. GE Capital's Commercial Financing group is providing debtor-in-possession financing for the 97-year-old steel maker, which has been hit hard by foreign competition and the ailing economy. Bethlehem Steel will use the financing for general operating expenses, a company spokeswoman said.

The nation's two largest steel companies said yesterday that they would conduct joint research and development in an effort to maintain a technological edge over their competitors.Bethlehem Steel Corp., the No. 2 steelmaker in the country, and U.S. Steel Group, the nation's largest steel company, said that for the next 18 months they will exchange proprietary information on such matters as iron- and steelmaking, casting, rolling and finishing processes, and instrumentation development. At the end of the period, the companies plan to evaluate the results.

Robert Holley Jr. has fallen in love with education."I'll be in school forever now," said the 57-year-old steelworker, who has taken courses in photography, computers and math in recent years. "This is the best opportunity in the world."Mr. Holley's newfound infatuation has come thanks to the Career Development Center, a joint project between Bethlehem Steel Corp. and the United Steelworkers of America -- the union representing workers at the Sparrows Point mill.The center, part of a nationwide program at major steel companies, offers a wide variety of options, ranging from technical courses in computers and various crafts to liberal arts studies, many of which have no direct connection to the steel industry.

Boosted by the decline of Asian currencies, steel imports are surging and worrying U.S. steelmakers such as Bethlehem Steel Corp.Steel imports hit record levels in April, rising to 3.26 million tons -- the highest monthly figure since the 1970s, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. The April numbers are up 21.3 percent from March and 20.6 percent from a year ago."Imports are up substantially, to one of the highest months ever," said Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive officer of Pennsylvania-based Bethlehem Steel.

Boosting its profit per ton of steel from $13 to $29, Bethlehem Steel Corp. yesterday reported it had more than tripled its net income during the third quarter even as its sales slipped.The nation's No. 2 steelmaker, which owns the Sparrows Point mill in Baltimore County with 5,400 workers, reported earnings soared to $34.4 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with $10.3 million, or zero cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Yet at the same time, sales dipped slightly to $1.22 billion from $1.23 billion for the previous third quarter.

Executives from the nation's largest steel manufacturers, including Sparrows Point owner Mittal Steel Co. NV, will face off with automakers today over tariffs on foreign-made corrosion-resistant steel. DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota want the U.S. International Trade Commission to drop the duties on imports from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea, a request fiercely resisted by steelmakers.