Steel Co. Asks State to Help Rush Permits : Industry: CSI wants to build furnace in former Kaiser factory in Fontana so it can produce goods competitively.

California Steel Industries Inc., which makes finished-steel goods at the old Kaiser Steel plant in Fontana, plans to build its own steel-making furnace at the site and is asking the state’s help in expediting the permit process.

The $220-million electric arc furnace would not necessarily spur the hiring of more workers but would help preserve the 1,000 jobs already at the plant by making CSI products more competitive, said James Declusin, executive vice president.

The company is under pressure to lower its costs and prices because it currently has to buy raw steel from outside suppliers in the United States and overseas.

Making their own steel “would keep our prices competitive with anybody in the U.S. or imports of foreign steel,” Declusin said.

At a press conference Tuesday with Gov. Pete Wilson, CSI--which itself is foreign-owned--lauded the assistance it received from Team California, a task force of public officials and business leaders that Wilson organized to promote California industries. The group helped the firm decide to build its own furnace.

CSI is asking Team California’s help in getting the plant’s permits--including environmental approvals--within a year, as opposed to the two or three years it ordinarily might take, Declusin said.

The prospect of even a state-of-the-art steel furnace in the frequently smoggy Inland Empire likely will prompt opposition. Anne Dennis, a coordinator at the Sierra Club’s San Bernardino office, said her group “absolutely” will study the mill’s potential impact on the environment.

Declusin said CSI is not threatening to build the plant elsewhere if the permit process is not accelerated. But he said any delay would increase the risk that “ultimately we would not be able to compete and would have to shut down.”

The company also “is in a race” to build the mill because two other steelmakers, Nucor Corp. and Oregon Steel Mills Inc., are searching for a site in the Pacific Northwest for a similar mill, Declusin said.

CSI is jointly owned by Kawasaki Steel of Japan and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce Ltd., a Brazilian mining and raw materials concern. Completion of the new steel furnace is still subject to their final approval. Once the permits are acquired, it would take about 18 months to build the new furnace, the company said.

Raw steel hasn’t been produced at the site since Kaiser Steel stopped production in the early 1980s, after which CSI bought most of Kaiser’s assets in Fontana.