WHEELING — Gov. Patrick Morrisey – disappointed in the news that Cleveland-Cliffs had stopped investment on a potential transformer manufacturing facility at its former Weirton site – said he would still like to see a new use for that building, and will do all he can to make it so.

Morrisey was in Wheeling on Thursday for a ceremonial bill signing at Heritage Port. Cleveland-Cliffs announced last week that underperforming first-quarter results led the company to cease investment in a transformer facility in Weirton. That facility had been a tinplate manufacturing site, the final manufacturing component of what once was Weirton Steel Corp. Cleveland-Cliffs announced in February 2024 it would close the tinplate facility, but sparked hope in July 2024 with the announcement of the transformer manufacturing site.

“When that first happened over a year ago, I came up to the area and I met with the union and the head of Cleveland-Cliffs and I wanted to make sure we were doing everything imaginable to put these good, hard-working people to work,” Morrisey said. “We originally thought there was potentially a good plan, and a lot of people working out of state were poised to come back in 2026.

“So, obviously, I’m deeply disappointed in everything that’s happened,” he added.

Yet Morrisey said he wasn’t throwing in the towel. He said Thursday he was having meetings later that day to look for options for the site. He has talked with union officials, Cleveland-Cliffs representatives and others to get the ball rolling.

“That’s a good facility,” he said. “I think that it could host a lot of really important manufacturing for this area, so I’m not giving up on that.”

Morrisey said he has been approached about “a number of separate opportunities in the Northern Panhandle,” and his staff would research every one of them.