Bethlehem Steel Appreciates President's Program for Steel.

Business Editors

BETHLEHEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2002

The following statement is attributable to Robert "Steve" Miller Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, on the decision by President George W. Bush to impose tariffs in the range of 18 to 30 percent over a three-year period on most flat carbon steel products:

"The President heard all the arguments and, in the end, Stood Up for Steel.

"We greatly appreciate the positive response by President Bush and his administration to preserve a strong domestic steel industry. For the past four years, the steel industry has been battered by unfairly traded imports, costing tens of thousands of jobs and causing financial ruin to the industry. We thank the entire Bush Administration for realizing the critical role that a strong domestic steel industry can and will play as a basic building block of both our national economy and our national security.

"Bethlehem is at a critical point in its 98-year history of providing quality steel products to its customers. We are currently working on alternatives available to the company to maintain and enhance our operations and to provide for our large retiree population. The imposition of tariff remedies allows us to deal from a position of strength as we move forward. Now that the trade issues have been addressed, we must turn our attention to provisions to help with legacy costs. We will work closely with Congress to explore ways to support our retirees and, in particular, their health care costs.

"The past few months have been an intense experience in communicating with many different constituencies important to Bethlehem - our employees, our retirees, our customers and the federal government. Each demonstrated concern for Bethlehem Steel and the entire steel industry by communicating their views in support of steel tariffs. In particular, members of the Congressional Steel Caucus, including U.S. Senators Specter, Santorum, Sarbanes and Mikulski as well as many Congressional representatives spoke out and were heard.

"I also want to commend our thousands of employees and retirees who made the long journey to join us in Washington, D.C., last Thursday to make our final appeal to the President. Their voices were compelling and made a real difference.

"The industry is still dealing with the issue of worldwide overcapacity in steel, and we will continue to work through the Bush Administration, the WTO and other organizations to address a permanent solution to eliminating excess and inefficient global capacity. We will also continue our work to improve competitiveness by lowering costs, improving quality and working closely with our customers. Our progress as an industry has been significant, and, with President Bush's actions today, the industry will be in a better position to serve the needs of its customers, employees and communities.

http://www.bethsteel.com