Ohio steel giant aims to use Biden climate funds for polluting project

Cleveland-Cliffs, the steel company behind Middletown Works in Ohio, is changing plans for up to $500 million in federal grant money it received under the Biden administration. The funds were originally meant to replace the plant's coal-based blast furnace with cleaner technology that would purify iron ore using natural gas or hydrogen instead of coal, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 1 million tons a year. Now, under the Trump administration, the company plans to instead refurbish the old blast furnace so it can keep running for decades, paired with a new plant that burns the furnace's waste gas to generate electricity and steam on-site.

This shift means more pollution, not less, for people living near the plant. State regulators expect the new plan to add hundreds of tons a year of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and smog-forming chemicals, plus more particle pollution. Ohio's EPA calculated that these increases would still count as a net improvement, but only because it compared them to pollution levels from 2013-2015, when the plant ran an even dirtier coke-making operation that shut down in 2021. Environmental groups argue this makes the comparison misleading, and some nearby residents have objected, while some local union members support the plan for the construction and manufacturing jobs it would preserve.

This story is about industrial policy and a specific factory in Ohio, not a program homeowners can apply to. It does not involve home energy rebates or upgrades, but it shows how federal clean-energy funds originally aimed at cutting industrial emissions are being redirected under changed political priorities.