Evraz Oregon Steel Mills is a subsidiary of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

steel producer Evraz Group and has operations in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and also with facilities in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. The company produces items such as structural tubing, pipes, and steel rails.

History

Oregon Steel began as Gilmore Steel in 1926 when William G. Gilmore started the company. Thomas Boklund became president of Oregon Steel Mills in 1982, CEO in 1985 and chairman of the board in 1992.Jim Springhetti
Oregon Steel Mills' Boklund dies at 69
''Oregonlive.com'', 31 December 2008 In 1987 the company became Oregon Steel Mills. and went public in 1988 (trading on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

as OS), launching a series of acquisitions. In 1993, OSM purchased

Colorado Fuel and Iron The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892.Scamehorn, Chapter 1, "The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1892-1903" page 10 By 1903 it was mainly owned and co ...

. In January 2007 Evraz Group S.A. of

bought OSM for $2.3 billion.Campoy, Ana
Evraz: US committee OKs Oregon Steel Mills acquisition.
MarketWatch. Retrieved on March 28, 2007. In February 2010, Jim Declusin stepped down as CEO of Evraz Oregon Steel Mills after 4 years in office. In January 2011, the company announced moving its headquarters from Portland to Chicago. In April 2020, Evraz Oregon Steel Mills stopped operating its Portland spiral pipe mill, leading to 230 permanent job cuts. This decision follows the gas and oil industry's downturn amid the coronavirus crisis. 65 more workers were laid off in June 2020 at its North Portland mill. This pipe mill had closed in 2009 and reopened in 2012 following the nation's boost in natural gas and oil drilling production. The facilities in Oregon were using steel slabs imported from Russia, but importing steel from Russia became much more expensive (25% import tariff) during the Trump administration. Evras Oregon Steel Mill is the only steel sheet mill west of the Rockies. Evraz was the largest carbon emitter of the city of Portland. As a result of sanctions placed against it as a result of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, on August 10, 2022, Evraz announced its intention to sell its North American assets.

Operations

OSM operates a variety of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

production facilities. These include a plate mill at their OSM Rolling Mill at the Portland Steelworks in Portland, Oregon. OSM manufactures

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

plating for the U.S. military. Also at the Portland Steelworks is OSM Tubular that makes

pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

for use in areas such as oil and natural gas transmission, this plant was closed in 2015. Oregon Steel's Canadian operations also produce tubular steel products. In Oregon, OSM also operates a structural tubing facility, the only producer in the Northwest, this plant was sold in 2015. In Colorado, OSM's Rocky Mountain Steel subsidiary operates three production facilities. One facility makes rails for

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, one rods and bars for construction, and the third plant manufactures seamless pipes. These facilities were part of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, founded in 1881 and bought by OSM in 1993.Rocky Mountain Steel Mills.
Oregon Steel Mills. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.

Bibliography

* Roger S. Ahlbrandt, ''The Renaissance of American Steel''. Oxford University Press. 1996.

References

External links

{{FormerORCompanies Defense companies of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1926 Steel companies of the United States 1926 establishments in Oregon Manufacturing companies based in Portland, Oregon Companies based in St. Johns, Portland, Oregon 2007 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies Evraz Rail infrastructure manufacturers