MITCHELL, Ind. – State and federal officials announced Monday that a Mitchell-based cement plant was selected to receive up to $500 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a major carbon reduction project.
Heidelberg Materials North America is expected to use federal dollars to bring online a system to capture and store carbon underground at the plant site. The project aims to capture at least 95% of the carbon dioxide released by the plant, preventing 2 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.
The award is part of a larger, $6 billion announcement by the Biden administration to fund several commercial-scale decarbonization projects nationwide that will slash emissions from the industrial sector.
The DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program, which oversees the awards, seeks to move energy-intensive industries toward net-zero. Federal energy officials said it’s the largest-ever U.S. investment to decarbonize domestic industry to fight climate change.
“This investment means that in the carbon-constrained future, this plant will continue to lead the way in the production of low- to no-carbon cement,” said David Crane, DOE’s Under Secretary for Infrastructure. “And, it’s going to provide the jobs. That’s very exciting to us.”
Heidelberg Materials submitted its application in 2023. Out of more than 400 bids, the Mitchell project was one of 33 selected across 20 states to participate in the new DOE program.
The enitre Casey Smith story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle can be viewed here.
