Lawmaker: MTA Should Be Buying Local For Verrazano Bridge Steel
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More than $2 million of high-tech steel has been pressed into service to replace the upper deck of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and it is coming from China.
As WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported, the choice to import has roused anger from critics, including state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island.)
Lawmaker: MTA Should Be Buying Local For Verrazano Bridge Steel
"We just want to make sure that the (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) is doing their due diligence and making sure that they've exhausted any option of using American steel, American products, American workforce," she said.
Government should be setting an example when it comes to such purchases, Malliotakis said.
"Government likes to promote, 'Buy American; use American products,' but we need to lead by example," she said, "and our state and our authorities – all government entities should be buying American first before they go outside of our country."
The MTA said it tries to use domestic product whenever possible. But it said it simply could not find an American company capable of fabricating the specialized steel plates on the scale needed.
The agency said more than $3 million of U.S. steel is being used on other aspects of the product.
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