Cleveland-Cliffs considering pulling out of plan for Middletown Works

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Cleveland-Cliffs is considering moving away from plans announced earlier in March to overhaul the ironmaking systems and installing a new environmentally friendly system at the Middletown Works, a plan the company said would ensure union steelworkers in Middleton remain “at the forefront of the global steel industry."

Cleveland-Cliffs said in March that the funding would largely come out of $6 billion that the Biden Administration earmarked for slashing emissions in the industrial sector. Cleveland-Cliffs said that Department of Energy selected it for an award.

The company told the Journal-News that it would receive $500 million that would be used to help to decarbonize its Middletown plant and would keep 2,500 jobs at the plant.

But Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told Politico the company’s commitment is in jeopardy.

“I’m still trying to figure out if it even makes sense with the grants because the grant is $500 million, the entire project is $1.6 billion. I still have to pony up $1.1 billion,” Goncalves told Cleveland.com.

“I’m not going to do it if the government and the general public are not really supportive of that.”

He told the newspaper that even with the help of the federal grant, the steel produced would carry higher costs, a price buyers - mostly in the auto industry - he said are unwilling to pay.

“There are only two ways to fix that: One is they change their minds and pay. So far, not very successful. The other way is for me to go back to what I was before and emit more,” Goncalves said. “That’s a decision that I’m going to have to make very soon.”

The flex-fuel DRI plant and EMFs will require 170 additional jobs. The project will result in 1,200 building trades jobs during peak construction, according to the company.

The cutting-edge technology will preserve domestic iron and steel production capabilities and continue to create and support union jobs, Brown said in a release.

In addition to emissions reduction in high-quality iron and steel making, the byproduct of the electric melting furnaces can be used as a Portland cement substitute, resulting in significant reductions in emissions, energy usage, and consumption of raw materials associated with cement manufacturing.

Hilary Lewis, steel director for Industrious Labs, called the hydrogen plant “a crucial step toward revitalizing American manufacturing, fostering healthier communities and creating future-proof jobs.

With this investment, the Biden administration has notched its first win in the global transition to green steel.” The process will dramatically reduce carbon emissions intensity, and will consolidate Middletown Works as the most advanced, lowest GHG emitting integrated iron and steel facility in the world, according to the company.

The facility will have the flexibility to be fueled by natural gas, which would reduce current ironmaking carbon intensity by over 50%; a mix of natural gas and clean Hydrogen; or clean Hydrogen, which would reduce current ironmaking carbon intensity by over 90%, the company said.