At the time, the company, one of the oldest in Butler County, announced it was looking to the future with $1.8 billion in upgrades that supporters said would add jobs, benefit the environment and ensure long-term stability of the business.
Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works, founded as Armco Steel in 1900, planned to invest more than $500 million in federal grants and $1.3 billion of its own funds over a five-year period to upgrade the Middletown plant.
The investment would secure 2,500 jobs at Middletown Works, where the unionized workforce is represented by the International Association of Machinists.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Last year, Shawn Coffey, union president of Local 1943, called the news “absolutely huge” for the employees and community.
“It’s a bold statement by the company,” he said. “This shows that we will be making steel for a lot longer.”
But those grants are slated for termination under the Trump administration, according to internal administration documents obtained by CNN.
Representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency have been involved in deciding programs to cut and keep, two people familiar with the situation told CNN.
“An unelected billionaire who made his vast fortune off government contracts should not be able to unilaterally stop these programs,” Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, told CNN in a statement, referring to Elon Musk, whose efficiency department has worked to slash programs and budgets across the federal government.
Energy Department spokesman Ben Dietderich said in a statement that “no final decisions have been made” about whether the funding would ultimately be cut, and that “multiple plans are still being considered.”
The Energy Department’s $6.3 billion program that gave money to Cleveland-Cliffs and other big industrial companies to modernize their equipment could be cut by two-thirds, according to internal documents obtained by CNN.
The plan called for the plant to retire one blast furnace, install two electric melting furnaces and use hydrogen-based ironmaking technology. The project aimed to eliminate 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year from the largest supplier of steel to the U.S. automotive industry, the company announced.
Rick Pearce, president of the chamber serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, said it would be premature for him to comment on a hypothetical.
One source told CNN it “makes zero sense” to cut a major federal grant to one of the largest employers in the vice president’s hometown.
“There’s no political logic to it whatsoever,” the source said. “Cliffs is the major vertically integrated steel manufacturer left in this country, and they’ve been quite supportive of Trump’s tariffs. This really reads like a bunch of 24-year-olds at DOGE are working through this.”
If that funding is taken away, Coffey told CNN, it would be up to the company on whether or not to shoulder the cost of the project alone.
Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to the Journal-News’ request for comment on the funding.
Last year, then-Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted toured Cleveland-Cliffs as part of visiting manufacturers in the state.
Patrick Bloom, senior vice president of government relations for Cleveland-Cliffs, the company that purchased AK Steel in Middletown for $1.1 billion in 2020, said Husted’s visit was a “great opportunity” to highlight the work of the Middletown Works employees and International Association of Machinists union workers.
The goal, Bloom said, was to show Husted how important Cleveland-Cliffs is to the manufacturing economy in the U.S., the state and the southwest Ohio region. Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America, officials said.
The company is the third largest employer in Butler County with 2,486 employees, according to the Butler County Development office. Miami University, the top employer, has 3,644 employees, followed by Cincinnati Financial Corp’s 3,500.
After meeting with Cleveland-Cliffs officials privately, Husted talked exclusively with this news organization about his visit and the future of the steelmaker.
Prior to his visit, Politico had published a report that stated the company’s commitment was in jeopardy. Then the company issued a news release in response to that report.
“The company continues to be in active negotiations with the Department of Energy related to the award-specific terms and conditions. Cliffs remains optimistic about receiving final approvals and proceeding with this carbon-friendly and high-return project,” the news release stated.
Husted was asked about those recent news reports. He said he was told by company officials during a private meeting that the plan is “going forward.”
That is “good for this facility,” he said. “Anytime you invest in a facility and you invest millions or billions over time, that means it’s secure. When you have the latest machinery and equipment that means you’re making a product that the market wants. When you invest in it you can’t move a steel mill, move hundreds of millions of dollars in investments very easily.
“That gives more security to this community and the people who work here.”
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