Trump memo prioritizes US-made steel for pipelines

A memorandum issued by the White House press secretary Jan. 24, 2017, asks the United States Commerce Department to “develop a plan under which all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired or expanded pipelines, inside the borders of the United States” use domestically made steel.

The memo says the Commerce Department can work in consultation with other federal agencies to ensure “all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired or expanded pipelines” use “materials and equipment produced in the United States, to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by law.”

Defining what counts as domestically produced steel or pipe, the memo includes several examples:

• Regarding iron or steel products, all manufacturing processes for such iron or steel products, from the initial melting stage through the application of coatings, [must] occur in the United States.
• Steel or iron material or products manufactured abroad from semifinished steel or iron from the United States are not “produced in the United States” for purposes of the memorandum.
• Steel or iron material or products manufactured in the United States from semifinished steel or iron of foreign origin are not “produced in the United States” for purposes of the memorandum.

The memo, a copy of which can be found on the NPR website here, is one of several pipeline-related memos newly elected President Trump has issued in his first week in office.

Other memos have addressed two specific oil pipelines, the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline, while another allows certain infrastructure projects, including pipelines, to receive a high priority status for environmental and regulatory review.