On August 21, 2026, Cleveland-Cliffs and the U.S. Department of Energy announced a revised plan for the Middletown Works steel plant in Ohio, abandoning the project that aimed to transition from a coal-fired furnace to cleaner production technologies. Under the new plan, the existing furnace will continue to be used, while the company seeks a permit to install an “advanced” natural-gas-fired combined heat and power plant that will burn blast-furnace gas to produce steam and electricity.
Cleveland-Cliffs was selected in March 2024 to receive up to $500 million in funding from the Department of Energy under the department’s Industrial Demonstrations Program. The original project included construction of a 2.5-million-ton-per-year direct-reduced iron plant ready to use hydrogen, along with two electric melting furnaces.
What Changed in the Project?
The company presented the original project as a major modernization of Middletown Works, saying it would reduce carbon emissions by about 1 million metric tons annually and locally reduce smog and soot. The company also expected the project to preserve 2,500 union jobs and add 170 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs, while reducing the cost of producing a ton of liquid steel by about $150, or the equivalent of $450 million in annual savings, according to its estimates at the time.
The revised concept does not eliminate coal use, but focuses on improving the facility’s efficiency through a technology that, the article says, Cleveland-Cliffs already uses at its other facilities with blast furnaces, including Cleveland Works, Burns Harbor, Indiana Harbor and Dearborn Works.
Why Does This Change Matter?
Middletown Works was one of the central projects in the Department of Energy’s program, which was created to support “first-of-a-kind or early-stage” industrial technologies capable of driving emissions reductions in American industry. The project was selected from more than 400 competitive applications as the first U.S. effort to modernize an integrated coal-based steel plant with a union workforce toward cleaner production.
In practice, abandoning the original project means federal funding will be used for a plan that does not include the previously announced replacement of the coal-fired furnace. Environmental groups say this reduces the climate and health benefits expected from the investment, while leaving the plant and the surrounding community facing continued sources of pollution.
Criticism From Residents and Environmental Groups
Donna Balinger, a Middletown resident who lives 800 feet from the plant, said that her home, property and neighbors are exposed daily to noise and toxic emissions, and that extending the life of the coal furnace will continue harming residents’ health. Marilyn Wall, a volunteer with the Sierra Club’s Ohio chapter, also criticized abandoning the promise to use federal funding to improve air quality while preserving jobs.
Elena Saxonhouse, managing attorney at the Sierra Club, said the revised plan redirects half a billion dollars in taxpayer money away from the purpose established by Congress, while Hilary Lewis, Industrious Labs’ steel director, described the change as substantial incentives for the company to save money without materially reducing pollution.
Middletown Works currently ranks among Ohio’s ten largest industrial polluters for carbon monoxide, lead, fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. According to an analysis conducted by Industrious Labs using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s COBRA model, the plant’s current pollution is associated annually with estimates ranging from 37 to 67 premature deaths, more than 21,000 cases of asthma symptoms, 44 emergency-department visits, and thousands of missed school and workdays.