More than 2,500 Baltimore County employees are in danger of losing their jobs.

Tuesday, the Department of Justice ordered Mittal Steel Co. NV to sell its Sparrows Point mill location.

The sale was ordered because of concerns that the steel giant’s presence would kill tin mill market competition in the eastern United States, a release said.

If the Sparrows Point mill sells, it won’t be the first time.

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“We’ve changed hands three times in five years,” said Larry Burns, 49, who has worked at the mill for 31 years. “I guess [what happens to our jobs] depends on who buys us, but we’ve kept the same contract before.”

Mittal’s recent $33 billion takeover of Arcelor SA created a “powerful combination that changed the landscape of the global steel industry,” said Scott Burns, an equity analyst for Morningstar, in a recent report on Arcelor Mittal.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division filed a civil lawsuit on Aug. 1 to block the proposed acquisition, which made the company the world’s largest steel producer.

An accompanying proposal from the Department of Justice, aimed at resolving concerns out of court, asked Mittal to sell a steel mill that supplied the eastern United States.

A spokesman for Arcelor Mittal refused to comment to The Examiner, and no formal statements were available as of press time.

Mittal’s first choice was to divest Dofasco Inc., a Canadian company owned by Arcelor.

But during Mittal’s takeover of Arcelor, Arcelor placed the legal title to the Canadian company in a Dutch foundation. The sale of Dofasco could not take place, leaving Mittal a choice between closing the Sparrows Point mill or a Weirton, W.Va., mill, said the Department of Justice statement.

But the Department stepped in again, choosing the Maryland location because of its production rate — 500,000 tons of tin mill products annually — and its self-sufficiency.

The Sparrows Point mill can produce its own steel slabs for use in its tin mill manufacture, so with a sale, it would not have to seek out a new source. Slabs are not manufactured at the Weirton mill.

The Sparrows Point facility, a fully integrated steel-making facility, is capable of producing 3.9 million tons of raw steel annually, according to Arcelor Mittal’s Web site.

“As far as the steel mill goes,” Burns said, “hopefully we continue getting decent wages and health care.”

kprahlad@baltimoreexaminer.com