United States Steel Corp. announced the proposed intent to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations and most of the flat-rolled finishing operations at its Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Ala. Under this action, the blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations will be idled, and they and the finishing operations would be permanently closed on or after Nov. 17, 2015. The facilities that would permanently close include the blast furnace and steelmaking operations, the hot strip mill, the pickle line, cold mill, annealing facility and stretch and temper line. The decision, however, does not impact Fairfield Tubular Operations or the electric arc furnace (EAF) construction project.