WEIRTON — U.S. Rep. Riley Moore continues to see opportunity for the Weirton area and Upper Ohio Valley region, as plans continue to bring a transformer manufacturing operation to the community.

Moore, R-W.Va., brought that message to a group of approximately 20 United Steelworkers officials and employees while visiting Weirton on Wednesday afternoon.

Moore, who, while serving as West Virginia auditor, was involved in obtaining a $50 million investment from the state to help launch the transformer project, said while it is “painful and difficult” to see the Weirton tin mill idle, he believes there is great opportunity coming for the community.

“I think there is huge potential,” Moore said, adding the transformer project, announced last year by officials with Cleveland-Cliffs shortly after the idling of its Weirton tin plant, would provide good-paying jobs. “This facility is going to be state-of-the-art.”

Announced in July, the transformer production facility is slated to develop within one of the Cleveland-Cliffs facilities in the Half Moon Industrial Park.

Company officials had noted plans for the creation of approximately 600 jobs, with an investment of $150 million and a plan to begin operation sometime in 2026.

USW 2911 President Mark Glyptis, thanking Moore for his support throughout the process, offered encouragement to the gathered employees, explaining an agreement to provide employment to any of those workers who went through layoffs last year from the tin mill is still in place.

“Nobody did more,” Glyptis said of Moore, who was elected to represent West Virginia’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives last fall. “He hasn’t forgotten us.”

Moore said the launch of the transformer facility has the potential to bring other manufacturers to the area, as well, whether they be in industries which could feed or benefit from transformer manufacturing, or those who see the opportunity in the growth of the region.

“Other manufacturers tend to cluster,” he said. “That’s what I want to see happen.”

Moore also discussed the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act, which he introduced in January, with the goal of increasing a president’s power to address foreign tariff and non-tariff trade barriers on U.S. exports.

“That could be a law, a subsidy, a regulation,” Moore said. “We’re trying to create reciprocity.”

Moore also briefly touched on ongoing discussions about the future of U.S. Steel, which has been in negotiations for a possible sale by Japan’s Nippon Steel.

“There are some big discussions at a very high level,” Moore said.