The Energy Department announced this week it is awarding Cleveland-Cliffs $9.5 million to begin the first phase of its low-carbon steel project at its plant in Middletown, Ohio.
The finalization of the Phase 1 agreement between the company and the Biden administration follows earlier comments by Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves to POLITICO that he considered ditching the $500 million grant for green steel production because the company’s customers were reluctant to pay higher prices for the steel.
Cleveland-Cliffs plans to install a hydrogen-ready flex-fuel direct reduced iron plant and two electric melting furnaces at its Middletown Works facility in Ohio — the plant the GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance described in his “Hillbilly Elegy” memoir as an “economic savior” for his grandparents.
The Energy Department said the project, once completed, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 1 million tons per year, while demonstrating hydrogen-based iron-making technology and replacing an operating blast furnace. The project would help decarbonize rolled steel products, which are used by the U.S. automotive industry.
