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Westinghouse Electric Co. is asking a bankruptcy judge to allow the speedy sale of a portion of property in Westmoreland County to a pipeline subsidiary of Sunoco Logistics Partners, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. The nuclear firm stands to gain $920,550 from the sale of 72 acres. Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy on March 29, has been engaged in talks with Sunoco for more than a year over a plan to run two natural gas liquids pipelines across a property that houses Westinghouse’s specialty metals plant. The factory makes components for nuclear fuel. At first, Sunoco wanted to expand an existing right of way on the property, but when that was determined not to be feasible, the two companies discussed a sale. But they couldn’t agree on the terms. The transaction would allow Westinghouse to avoid fighting Sunoco in court over the eminent domain filing and it will “lead to a value-maximizing sale,” the nuclear company said. Sunoco is proposing to pay $12,750 per acre. The sale is set to go before Westinghouse’s bankruptcy judge on May 23.

Virginia billionaire Tom Clarke emerged victorious from bankruptcy court yesterday when he and his partners were the only group to show up for an auction to buy the former Essar Steel Minnesota in Nashwauk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported yesterday. Their bid of more than $550 million was accepted, resulting in what could be a new Iron Range force. The plan is to merge the company, now called Mesabi Metallics, with the Grand Rapids, Minn., and Reynolds, Ind., Magnetation properties that Clarke's group, Chippewa Capital Partners, bought out of bankruptcy on Jan. 30. Clarke said he plans to finish construction on the half-finished $1.9 billion Essar taconite project in Nashwauk, Minn. The project, which suffered financial woes and stalled construction over 10 years, was eventually scaled back before being shut down in July when Essar filed for bankruptcy with more than $1 billion in unpaid bills.