bonanza

Chapter 349 Abandoned Factory
"This is Pittsburgh?" Yang Dongsheng shook his head repeatedly.

"Yes!" The guy from Cornell University was also a little silly.

Cornell University is not far from Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh's industrial structure is related to his major. During his stay in the United States, he visited Pittsburgh more than once.

"It wasn't like this when I was at Cornell. How could it decline so quickly?"

After getting settled in the hotel, several people came to the hotel lobby, and after a while a white man in his 40s came to the lobby.

"Hi Mike!"

"long time no see!"

The two talked about the past, and then introduced Yang Dongsheng, George Wilson and others.

The factory that Bethlehem Steel Company was about to close was located in a small town near Pittsburgh. Several people drove to the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

When he saw the steel factory just now, Yang Dongsheng was taken aback. He saw a lot of people gathered at the gate of the steel factory, most of them were holding signs in their hands, and there were reporters interviewing at the scene.

"We need jobs!"

"Work, don't lose your job!"

Yang Dongsheng immediately cursed in his heart, fuck!How could I forget about this!
After their car approached, the group of people rushed towards them immediately.

"Get out of Pittsburgh!"

"Defend the factory!" protesters yelled around their cars, and some climbed onto their cars and jumped.

Fortunately, there were police officers at the scene to maintain law and order, and stopped the further actions of the demonstrators in time. Otherwise, these people would have overturned their cars.

With the help of factory security personnel, they finally entered the factory.

After entering, the visiting process went smoothly. The equipment is exactly as Bethlehem Steel Company said, in good condition, and it can be used after being pulled away and installed.

After coming out, I was subjected to onlookers again.

Back at the hotel, several people gathered in Yang Dongsheng's room.

"The equipment is quite good! But..." The speaker glanced out, and many demonstrators followed the car to find the hotel where they lived. "Even if we buy these equipment, I'm afraid we won't be able to ship them out?"

"Mr. Wilson, who are the people who went to demonstrate today? I feel like they are very organized." Yang Dongsheng asked.

"Those are from the United Steelworkers, one of the most powerful and active labor organizations in America, headquartered in Pittsburgh. Not only do they determine the votes of hundreds of thousands of union members, they also come up with Large sums of money are used to fund campaigns at all levels and have a huge impact on political elections and decision-making. Honestly, with them on board, I think Bethlehem Steel's plan is likely to be stranded!"

"Hiss!" Yang Dongsheng covered his forehead, feeling a headache.

I just wondered, just buying a stove, why is it like learning from the scriptures, does it have to go through 81?

"Yang, can I say something?" George Wilson said.

"Please say!"

"Since you have come to Pittsburgh, why don't you look at the equipment of other companies? Pittsburgh is the center of the American steel industry. I remember representing a lawsuit last year. Their company has a similar set of equipment. I heard that they went bankrupt this year!"

"Really?" Yang Dongsheng subconsciously glanced at the Cornell University student.

"That's right, even if others don't, Pittsburgh is the headquarters of U.S. Steel, the largest steel group in the United States, and they must have the same type of equipment!" If they mess up again this time, it will be the second time. Get the right equipment.

"George, can you contact the factory from last year?" Yang Dongsheng asked.

"They're bankrupt and should now be in state or municipal administration!"

In an abandoned factory, everyone was drooling looking at the equipment in front of them.

A 135-ton ultra-high-power DC electric arc furnace, the smelting time of each furnace is only 70 minutes, and the annual output can reach 90 tons. There are ladle furnaces, vacuum refining furnaces, a high-end alloy bar production line, and a high-end alloy wire production line. .

These equipment seem to be at least [-]% new. According to the service life of this kind of industrial equipment, there is no need to try it.

"These devices alone are worth a lot of money, right? Why are they so abandoned?"

"And the location here is not bad, has no one thought of using it?"

Standing in the factory, Yang Dongsheng could see the tallest buildings in downtown Pittsburgh.

When he came here just now, Yang Dongsheng noticed that one side of the factory is a road with heavy traffic, the other side is a big river, and the other side of the river is a dense forest.

It is so close to the city center and has such a good view, if it is put in the hands of Chinese real estate developers - what kind of river view house, convenient transportation, adjacent to the city center, oxygen forest... don't want too much publicity.

With such a piece of land in hand, it is almost a hair.

"I think it's because of the environment!"

In the 80s, after Reagan came to power, he began to implement large-scale deindustrialization, and a large number of factories closed. These factories left a large amount of polluted land, which is called "brownfield".

Due to the age of these abandoned factories, most of them are located in good locations. Many communities were even created because of these factories. There are also developers in the United States who have made the idea of ​​these "brownfields".

This is the case with the famous "Love Canal Incident". The New York state government that developed the land knew that there was pollution, but still built a large number of houses and a school on this land.

After the incident, the polluting Hooker Electrochemical Company and the New York State Government, which developed the land, were ordered to compensate the injured residents for a total of US$30 billion in economic and health losses.
That's $80 billion in the 30s.

In addition to compensation, the New York state government is still cleaning up the polluted land and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

If such polluted land is to be completely cleaned up, the polluted soil layer must be eradicated, and the excavated soil must be specially treated and put into a special site for landfill, which is not only costly but also time-consuming.

"George, are there many factories like this in America?"

"There should be quite a few!"

After the "Love Canal Incident", the United States successively introduced a series of bills related to environmental protection.

The starting point is very good, but the matter of "policy at the top and countermeasures at the bottom" not only exists in China, but also in the United States.

It is very difficult for many enterprises to support themselves, how can they have the money to clean up these polluted land?In order to avoid incurring huge liquidation costs, many companies simply filed for bankruptcy and evaded responsibility.

There are more factories that have changed hands so far. I don’t know how many times. After the law was promulgated, the owner thought that he had bought the factory from others. Big pollution should not bear such a big responsibility.

In short, caught in endless wrangling.

(End of this chapter)