Excellent post.  I’ve worked in the steel industry for a very long time.  I’ve been in a lot of mills including Nucor Berkeley.  We have alot of equipment in that mill.  I know exactly what you are talking about.  The union culture is a big part of the problem at Sparrows Point.  It can not be solved or saved.  The majority of the plant just needs to die like the Bethlehem Structural did.  Here’s some insight.  The nonunion culture of Nucor and SDI are fundamental to their success and the reason why Bethlehem went down.  Here’s a dirty little secret that people in the industry know but don’t always talk about.  ”UNION CAN’T COMPETE WITH NONUNION”.  This was understood by Tom Graham and David Roderick at US Steel in the 1980s and that is why US Steel pulled out of product line where they have direct nonunion competition.  Every single time a nonunion producer moves into a product line the existing union producers eventually falls off.  This happened with structural, rebar.  Now its happening with SQB bar and low end flat roll material.  Sparrows Point was in the unfortunate position of sharing the same product line as Nucor Berkeley.  If Bethlehem management invested in the right equipment back in the 1970s then Sparrows Point wouldn’t be in Nucor’s cross hairs.  Too bad for Sparrows Point they didn’t have the right product line.  Some of the workers at Sparrows Point are in for a severe kick in the teeth when they leave Sparrows Point.  The skilled trades who have a good work ethic and a good attitude will find new jobs with good pay and benefits as they should.  They would be an asset to any organization.  The slugs, the complainers and entitlement a**holes are in for a very hard and severe kick in the teeth.  In most cases if they are able to find a job there wouldn’t be a union to save their lazy, P.O.S. rear end when they are held accountable for what they got done at the end of their shift.  See the attached article about Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna.  Some workers had a hard time finding work simple because they had that stigma of being a union steelworkers from Bethlehem.  Not entirely fair but the word had gotten out.

http://aliciapatterson.org/stories/city-without-pulse 

If the millions for the Warren blast furnace, stove repairs and the BOF repairs are there why has the work not been done. Where is this mystery money? Ira refused to spend any more money to repair Warren’s hot end.

You know that the remaining stoves and the lining of the blast furnace need relining also. They will not last long. Even if you make money you have got to get these items going before the next run.

The engineers are not positive about Warren’s hot end. Running it now will put workers in danger. If you run it now it will only get worse until there is a significant accident.

I hope you come up with this mystery money but I really doubt it is really there. 
This is the major reason steel operators backed off from Warren-too much money is needed to be invested, even to make a start.