A little less than a year ago, Delegate Pat McGeehan was at the center of exploring possibilities to reverse the idling of the Cleveland-Cliffs tin plant in Weirton.

The answer last July seemed to be a $150 million investment to transform the Weirton property and produce electrical transformers. As many as 600 union workers who were laid off from the Weirton tin production plant expected to have the chance to work at the new facility.

Part of the package was a forgivable loan of $50 million through the State of West Virginia.

“After they idled their tin mill in Weirton early last year, I got wind that there might be some interest in a manufacturing facility for distribution transformers, so I reached out to a few folks and started discussions over it because we had some economic development money that was still available,” said McGeehan, R-Hancock.

“I thought ‘If this is legitimate, then I would love to be able to put these steelworkers back to work.'”

That resulted in several phone calls with Cleveland-Cliffs executives, he said, followed by an in-person meeting at corporate headquarters. “The CEO gave me his word that they would not only prioritize that project as the number one priority for their company, but they would not even worry about a partner,” McGeehan recalled.

All the activity culminated with a ceremonial event in Weirton last summer to mark the new start. “It’s a new future for West Virginia, really,” McGeehan said at that event.

Now, however, that optimism has taken a major blow. Last week, Cleveland-Cliffs announced it’s abandoning the plans in Weirton, part of several cost-cutting moves the steelmaker is undergoing up against millions of dollars in losses across the company.

Cleveland-Cliffs officials also said the project had required a partner that could supply the technology and licensing required to produce transformers.

“With our partner currently having second thoughts about the Weirton location and also considering a smaller plant than the one we had originally envisioned. We have made the decision to no longer pursue this investment,” Cleveland-Cliffs chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said in an earnings call last week.

McGeehan said he first got a hint that something wasn’t right with the project in March, after received questions about the $50 million incentive package. He called the state economic development office in March to check on that.

“To my surprise, I found out that they had not heard from Cleveland-Cliffs in around six months, which I thought was strange because all they needed to do to have that $50 million package ready to go for when they start employing folks in Weirton was to basically sign for so much collateral,” McGeehan said.

“You know, the $50 million package is essentially a gift that’s given in stages as they continue to employ more people all the way up to the 600 employee number. But the collateral is there just in case the company breaks the terms of the agreement, in which case it converts from a gift to a loan. Well, they hadn’t done anything like that yet.”

Then, last Thursday, McGeehan received a call from Cleveland-Cliffs, saying the project was scrapped. McGeehan objected that the partnership that the company said was falling through had never been a central part of the original plan.

“To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement,” McGeehan said last week in a telephone interview. “I can understand that market conditions change. If that’s the case and you’re just losing money and you can no longer live up to things, well, ok, that’s one thing, just tell me that.

“But that was never the reason that was told. It was always some other reason: We don’t have a partner. Then I was told that ‘We don’t have the knowledge to be able to be able to produce these transformers.'”

He is confident that the $50 million from the state is secure.

“I’ve checked on it. It’s encumbered within the economic development, set aside, so it hasn’t gone anywhere,” said McGeehan, who is the majority leader of the House of Delegates.

Other West Virginia officials have also expressed concern about the $50 million loan along with frustration over Cleveland-Cliffs.

“They obviously had an obligation with the state of West Virginia, I think, to a tune of about $50 million. I’m sure they will be returning that money,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said last week.

“But those would have been good, solid jobs for the city of Weirton that suffered so much great job loss over the last decade. So hopefully, working with them, we can, we can find another way.”

Her counterpart, Senator Jim Justice, posted on social media that he was deeply saddened to hear the Weirton news. Justice, R-W.Va., celebrated the electrical transformers possibility last year in Weirton when he was governor. “Last year we all pulled the rope together to bring investment into the state and into Weirton,” Justice posted.

The current governor, Patrick Morrisey, and his administration have not yet made a public comment about Cleveland-Cliffs, the steelworkers, the $50 million loan or any alternative possibilities for development in Weirton. The administration did not respond to three emailed invitations for comment.

McGeehan said the company broke faith over the deal.

“I think some decent things could come about potentially, just not with Cleveland-Cliffs,” he said.

He continued, “It’s just disappointing because it seems like they may have known for quite some time they’re not going to be able to deliver. Meanwhile, they’re telling the steelworkers everything’s fine and on schedule — and a lot of these guys have been unemployed since the tin mill was idled by Cleveland-Cliffs early last year.

“Now these guys are just left out to dry.”