Sparrows Point
Encyclopedia
Sparrows Point is an unincorporated area in Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...

, adjacent to Dundalk, Maryland
Dundalk, Maryland
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 62,306 people, 24,772 households, and 16,968 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 4,689.5 people per square mile . There were 26,385 housing units at an average density of 1,985.9 per square mile...

. Named for Thomas Sparrow, landowner, it was the site of a very large industrial complex owned by Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

, known for steelmaking and shipbuilding.

Steel

Steel was first made at Sparrows Point in 1889, by the Pennsylvania Steel Company. By the mid-20th century, Sparrows Point was the world's largest steel mill, stretching four miles from end to end and employing tens of thousands of workers. It used the traditional open-hearth steelmaking method to produce ingots, a labor- and energy-intensive process.

Purchased by Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

 in 1916, the mill's steel ended up as girders in the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

 and in cables for the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...

, and was a vital part of war production during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The mill was serviced by Four railroads: the Western Maryland, Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio and yard work was done by the Patapsco & Back River RR.

By 1961, the mill was producing 672,000 tons of steel per year. But changes in the steel industry, including a rise in imports and a move toward the use of simpler oxygen furnaces and the recycling of scrap, led to a decline in the use of the Sparrows Point complex during the 1970s and 1980s. The Sparrows Point plant was owned by Mittal Steel following its acquisition of Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

 successor company International Steel Group
International Steel Group
International Steel Group was a steel company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2004 it was ranked #426 on the Fortune 500. It was created after the turn around fund, WL Ross & Co. LLC, purchased LTV Steel in February 2002...

 in 2005. In March 2008, Mittal Steel sold the plant to the Russian company Severstal
Severstal
OAO Severstal Russian: Северсталь, "Northern Steel") is a Russian company mainly operating in the steel and mining industry, centred in the northern city of Cherepovets. Severstal is listed on the RTS and LSE. As of 2009, it is the largest steel company in Russia according to The Metal Bulletin....

 for $810 million.

Ships

The Sparrows Point Shipyard site was also a major center for shipbuilding and ship repair. Maryland Steel Company established the Sparrows Point yard in 1889, and it delivered its first ship in 1891. Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the Sparrows Point shipyard in 1917. During the mid-Twentieth Century, Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding
Bethlehem Shipbuilding
Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc....

 (BethShip)'s Sparrows Point yard was one of the most active shipbuilders in the United States, delivering 116 ships in the 7-year period between 1939 and 1946.

During the 1970s, Bethlehem Steel invested millions of dollars in upgrades and improvements to the Sparrows Point yard, making it one of the most modern shipbuilding facilities in the country. This included the construction of a large graving dock to allow for the construction of large supertankers up to 1200 feet in length and 265,000 gross tons in size.

Bethlehem Steel lurched from one financial crisis to another throughout the 1980s and 1990s, selling the Sparrows Point yard to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc., a subsidiary of Veritas Capital, in 1997 as part of an unsuccessful restructuring attempt. Baltimore Marine operated the facility as a ship repair and refurbishment yard until 2003, when Baltimore Marine Industries collapsed in bankruptcy. Update Sparrows Point was bought out by a New York based company called the Renco group which will soon fire the furnace back up and bring employment back to Sparrows Point

The Sparrows Point shipyard complex was sold at auction to Barletta Industries Inc. in 2004. Barletta is attempting a redevelopment of the site for use as a business and technology park, and plans to revive shipbuilding on at least part of the site, making use of the modern graving dock added in the 1970s.

Liquefied natural gas

In 2007, the international energy company AES Corporation
AES Corporation
AES Corporation is a Fortune 500 company that generates and distributes electrical power. The company was founded on January 28, 1981, as Applied Energy Services by Roger Sant from the US Federal Energy Administration and Dennis Bakke from the Office of Management and Budget. AES Corporation is...

 applied to the federal government for a certificate to build and operate a liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....

 terminal at Sparrow’s Point. The AES Sparrow’s Point LNG development would consist of three 160,000-cubic meter storage tanks and vessel offloading systems for LNG tankers. AES would also construct a new natural gas pipeline, the Mid-Atlantic Express, which would run north from Maryland into Pennsylvania crossing under the Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

 to connect with existing natural gas pipelines. The 33 inches (838.2 mm) buried pipeline would be 88 miles long.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project in January 2009, over the objections of state and county officials in Maryland and Pennsylvania. FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff cast a dissenting vote, stating that in his opinion the region’s energy needs could be better met without including LNG in the mix.
The Maryland Department of the Environment denied Sparrows Point a water-quality permit that would allow the company to dredge in Baltimore Harbor.
A citizens’ group, the LNG Opposition Group, also opposes the project.

External links

  • Malcolm Gladwell
    Malcolm Gladwell
    Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...

    , "The Risk Pool," New Yorker
    The New Yorker
    The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

    , August 28, 2006.
  • Brief history of Sparrows Point
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