[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12] [Senate] [Page 16502] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]STEELDAY 2010 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the critical role of structural steel in our Nation's infrastructure and industrial economy. Today, September 24, 2010, is the second annual SteelDay and is being celebrated through events nationwide. These events highlight the many American jobs provided by the structural steel industry and the contributions of structural steel as a safe, strong, green, and effective building material. The structural steel industry is a major employer in Illinois. Today, the United States has 4 major structural steel mills, 10 hollow structural shape producers, and more than 2,600 steel fabricators. Together, they employ over 185,000 Americans, producing 4.5 million tons of fabricated structural steel in 2009. In Illinois, more than 100 structural steel firms provide more than 2,000 good jobs. Most of the structured steel in a building can be recovered and recycled--as much as 98 percent. In fact, columns and beams that are made at U.S. steel mills include an average 93 percent of recycled materials. It is the most recycled material on the planet. There is a renewed interest in this country in domestic steel as a building material, and structural steel accounts for 5 percent of the steel consumed in the United States. Shipping steel from other countries creates a huge and unnecessary carbon footprint. LEED certification, an environmental rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, relies heavily on the use of domestic steel in new construction. The industry continues to incorporate improvements in the technology used to build steel projects. These improvements are also bringing down construction costs and increasing safety at construction sites. In light of these economic, environmental, and safety factors, it is no surprise that there is a three-to-one preference for using structural steel in the construction of multistory residential and nonresidential buildings. Mr. President, I congratulate the structural steel industry on its second annual SteelDay. Steel manufacturing and construction is driving our Nation's progress into the future. ____________________