Vice President J.D. Vance was joined by U.S. Department of Energy officials in Middletown to announce his hometown steel mill was getting a $500 million grant.
During the Biden administration, that $500 million had been originally awarded to Cleveland-Cliffs to help reduce pollution at its flagship Middletown Works plant.
The plan had been to replace its coal-dependent blast furnaces the company uses in steelmaking with electric furnaces that can be powered by hydrogen.
Now, the steel manufacturer wants to stick with coal. It plans to put the money towards refurbishing its blast furnace, upgrading material handling equipment, and installing a cogeneration plant to partially power Middletown Works (formerly operated by AK Steel).
The total project will cost $1 billion.
The company says the project is expected to preserve 2,300 jobs and create 1,500 construction jobs.
WYSO previously reported that Cleveland-Cliffs had been aiming to abandon the hydrogen-based project and had been looking at using the $500 million to double down on coal.
Middletown resident Donna Ballinger was outside protesting the proposal.
"I just want a cleaner air to breathe for everyone in the community relining that blast furnace ain't going to do nothing but put more pollution on everybody in this whole community, not just my house," Ballinger said.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ project hasn’t officially been signed off by environmental regulators, though. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency still has to approve an air pollution permit for the facility.
This story will be updated.
