Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works up for up to $75 million in federal funds
The Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works plant could get up to $75 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to pursue two decarbonization investments, according to a Monday, March 25, news release from the company.
The project, according to the release, would allow for substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across the company’s footprint, and will create efficiencies to drive down operating costs while securing and growing union jobs. The investment would secure 1,300 existing jobs at Butler Works, and would require up to 220 building trades jobs to complete.
Cliffs will use the grant money to replace two existing natural-gas fired high-temperature slab reheat furnaces at Butler Works with four electrified induction slab reheat furnaces, to bring optimum efficiency to its production of electrical steels. The primary benefits of this project are lower carbon emissions, substantially reduced energy costs and improvements in slab quality, according to the news release.
The company also expects to generate approximately $80 million in annual cost savings and yield improvements following the installation of the new equipment.
This grant opportunity comes in the wake of a proposed rule from the DOE that would undermine grain oriented electrical steel (GOES) — produced domestically only at Butler Works. Switching electrical distribution transformers from GOES to amorphous steel poses risks to the U.S. supply chain and national security because major amorphous steel producers are located overseas, according to a previous news release from U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th.
The Cleveland-Cliffs news release also said the company’s Middletown Works plant in Ohio could receive up to $500 million from the DOE to replace its existing blast furnace. With the replacement, Middletown will maintain its existing raw steel production capacity of approximately three million net tons per year.
The federal funding is being made available through DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, the news release said.
