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Russian pipemaker confirms reports of new local jobs
Plans $10 million plant expansion
It’s a done deal. Pipe maker Ultra Premium Oilfield Services’ owner said Tuesday it will settle in Brookfield and create up to 120 jobs.
TMK IPSCO, owner of Ultra Premium, made the announcement less than 24 hours after Ohio granted the company tax credits valued at $872,000 if it located in a closed pipe plant in Brookfield. The plant had operated under Sharon Tube Co. but it was closed shortly after Wheatland Tube Co. bought Sharon Tube.
TMK said it plans to produce up to 100,000 tons of threaded pipe annually. Production is expected to begin in the coming months, the company said.
TMK will spend $10 million to expand the plant. Vicki Avril, TMK president and CEO, said the new plant is in direct response to the growing demand for natural gas exploration at Marcellus Shale well sites.
The geological formation is believed to contain an enormous supply of natural gas covering a wide swath of Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
TMK IPSCO is a division of Russian parent company TMK. The company touts itself as one of the world’s largest oil and gas pipe producers and the market leader of the Russian pipe industry.
In a Monday story about the plant, The Herald incorrectly indicated Wheatland Tube Co. President Bill Kerins said that Wheatland Tube does not produce products for Marcellus Shale wells. The company does produce products for the natural gas exploration industry but he expects the TMK venture will have product types, sizes and special chemistries outside of Wheatland Tube’s range.
Bill Strimbu, president of Strimbu Trucking which is a neighbor to the plant was excited about the prospects of a new industrial customer.
“This is the best news Brookfield has had for years,’’ Strimbu said.
Last week V&M; Star Steel sealed a deal to build a $650 million pipe plant expansion in Youngstown.
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Court nixes ruling man is sexually violent predator
State Superior Court has denied a local judge’s request to issue a precedential opinion in a rape case.
Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge John C. Reed had ruled that Chad S. Thompson, 24, formerly of Stoneboro, is a sexually violent predator, but Superior Court said in a 2-1 decision July 8 that an expert’s testimony was insufficient to back that declaration.
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Stacey wants to continue fight over razed home
Raymond Stacey has requests pending in three courts as he presses his long-running attempt to prosecute the city of Hermitage and those he believes are responsible for illegally demolishing his parents’ house.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, on April 29 quashed an appeal because Stacey did not file his argument brief and appendix of supporting documents.
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Burglars strike while residents sleep
Several Shenango Valley residents’ homes were broken into overnight Tuesday and Wednesday while they slept.
Two burglaries in Sharon involved people entering open windows.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Court nixes ruling man is sexually violent predator
