Cleveland-Cliffs will get up to $575 million to slash emissions at its Middletown steel mill, as part of a broader plan by the Biden administration to decarbonize industrial plants around the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant Monday to speak to workers in the mill, celebrating the project.
“We don’t want to just make the best products in the world — and we will — we want to make sure that we make the best and cleanest products in the world," Granholm said. "We want to make those products here. We want to stamp them ‘Made in America.’ We want to use them here. We want to export them across the world. This is who we are."
The funds, which come from the Inflation Reduction Act, will help the Middletown mill retire its old blast furnace and install two electric furnaces.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who supported the project, noted in a statement celebrating the announcement that the new furnaces will let the plant "produce iron with nearly zero greenhouse gas emissions."
Beyond steel making, Brown said the furnaces will make a byproduct that can be used as a Portland cement substitute, also helping reduce emissions and energy usage typically associated with making cement.
Cleveland-Cliffs expects to add 170 new jobs. The project is expected to be completed by 2028.
Along with Middletown, a total of 33 similar projects across the U.S. will get $6 billion in federal funding.
When you factor in the companies’ share of this, it's a $20 billion investment in industrial decarbonization in America, Granholm said.
"These projects are going to slash our emissions by 14 million metric tons per year. They are replicable. They are scalable," she said. "What you do here in Middletown, we'll be looking at how we can replicate that in places all across the country."
