BRADDOCK, Pennsylvania -- The fate of the Edgar Thomson Works, a massive steel plant that has hugged the same spot along the Monongahela River since 1875, became even more uncertain Friday morning when President Joe Biden announced he would block the sale of United States Steel to Nippon Steel as one of his last acts as president.

Biden said he blocked the $14 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel on the grounds the sale was a threat to national security.

"It is my solemn responsibility as president to ensure that, now and long into the future, America has a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry that can continue to power our national sources of strength at home and abroad," Biden's statement read, adding that "it is a fulfillment of that responsibility to block foreign ownership of this vital American company."

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who grew up in the shadow of one of the Mon Valley plants, released dual statements on the Biden move. Shapiro said, "Since the day this proposed deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel was announced, my team and I have been engaged in intensive dialogue with all parties involved -- and my top priority, as always, has been protecting Pennsylvania workers and fighting for a better future for our Commonwealth."

The Montgomery County Democrat has told me in previous interviews that he had been working nonstop to try to broker a deal with all parties. Shapiro famously saved a Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in Butler last spring when the Biden administration had issued stern regulations that would have closed the plant permanently. Shapiro said the federal government has the sole authority to approve or block this........

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