JD Vance’s hometown was to have America’s first green steel plant, now it faces Trump crisis

Middletown, Ohio, once looked set to become a symbol of America’s clean energy future. The city’s sprawling steel mill, where JD Vance’s grandfather once worked and which the vice president later described as the “economic saviour” of his family, was supposed to house the nation’s first green steel project. In 2023, the Biden administration announced a $500 million Department of Energy grant to help convert the coal-fired furnace into one powered by hydrogen.

The plan promised 1,200 construction jobs and 170 permanent positions, while also positioning Middletown as a hub of climate-friendly industry, Financial Times reported.

Yet within months of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the dream had dissolved. Cleveland-Cliffs, which owns the plant, announced in July 2024 that it was abandoning the hydrogen project, citing cuts to federal incentives and the lack of a viable hydrogen supply chain, Politico reported.

Instead, the plant will continue running on coal and natural gas, a choice that aligns with Trump’s pledge to revive what he has called America’s “beautiful clean coal industry.”

Clash of two economic visions

The plant’s reversal highlights the tension between two starkly different approaches to reviving industrial America. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act aimed to channel billions into clean energy, sparking private investment in new technologies.

Trump, by contrast, has dismantled much of that framework, replacing subsidies with steep tariffs on imported steel and directing coal-fired plants to stay open, Financial Times reported.

While Biden’s model promised to cut emissions and seed new industries, Trump’s strategy leans on tariffs to protect existing producers. Cleveland-Cliffs has been among the beneficiaries: its CEO Lourenco Goncalves praised Trump’s 50 per cent levy on foreign steel, telling investors it was “significant in supporting the domestic steel industry”.

In Middletown itself, the shift has prompted mixed reactions. Local Chamber of Commerce head Rick Pearce expressed disappointment that the city would miss out on cutting-edge technology and a boost in tax revenues, but he also argued that tariffs could help restore manufacturing strength in the region.

Some business owners voiced frustration at the broken promise of green jobs. Residents rarely see tangible benefits from leaders’ promises. Vance’s rhetoric about remembering his roots had not translated into direct support for local entrepreneurs like herself, Financial Times has quoted as saying in the report.

However, there are commentators who say that Trump’s tariff-focussed industrial policy would ultimately bring jobs back to towns like Middletown. They argue that the Trump administration is acting in the “best interests of business” and argued that protectionist measures would encourage firms to reshore production.

Structural challenges and missed opportunities

Experts warned that the cancellation of the hydrogen plan reflects deeper structural issues. Analysts noted that Cleveland-Cliffs and other manufacturers were caught between the policy swings of two administrations and the slow global uptake of green steel.

BloombergNEF projected that hydrogen-based steelmaking would remain nearly twice as expensive as coal-based production through 2030 without subsidies, leaving projects like Middletown’s uneconomical, the Financial Times reported.

Leah Stokes, a clean energy scholar who advised Biden officials, argued that abandoning hydrogen was short-sighted. She said the US risked falling behind competitors like China in the race to dominate clean industries, describing steel made with coal as a “worst-choice policy and worst-choice energy source”, the Politico said.

The town’s broader struggle

Middletown’s fortunes have long been tied to its steel mill. For some residents, such as local historian Sam Ashworth, the city’s dependence on the industry remains a double-edged sword. He said that while the hydrogen project would have been “the right way to go,” the community also needed investment in sectors beyond steel, such as healthcare and technology, to ensure long-term resilience, Financial Times said.

Others, including Democratic activist and pastor Scotty Robertson, lamented that the cancellation deprived the city of sustainable, unionised jobs that could have helped narrow widening inequality. He criticised both Cleveland-Cliffs’ reliance on fossil fuels and what he described as the Biden administration’s failure to communicate the local benefits of clean energy policies before they were dismantled.

Middletown at a crossroads

For now, the city that Vance calls home finds itself at the centre of a national struggle over the future of American industry. Its green steel dream has collapsed under the weight of political shifts, leaving the town once again reliant on coal and tariffs.

Whether this approach brings the promised revival, or leaves Middletown stuck in a cycle of dependency and pollution, remains uncertain. What is clear is that the town’s fate continues to mirror the broader debate about how to rebuild post-industrial America — and whose vision will ultimately prevail.

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